Time to hold my hand up: I might be wrong. When I reviewed Syd Matters' album, 'A Whisper And A Sigh' (it's over there -> someplace) I was under the impression that 'Syd' was one guy; tonight 'he' appears to be a proper band. No stand-alone singer/songwriter could gel a band together quite like this, could they? The way they act as a singular entity suggests not...

...But bah, it matters little, no pun intended: if a gig's good it's good, and if it's shit it's shit, regardless of who plays what and where. Them be the facts, Jack. Tonight, Syd Matters is/are fleetingly magical: 'Bones' and 'End & Start Again' are two of the most beautiful, delicate, and enchanting songs to feature on any record of late, and are predictably lovely when experienced live. What isn't magical is the band's Mogwai-lite dirge towards the set's end. Stick to the lo-fi Grandaddy (to choose a soundalike of sorts) stylings, please.

The band's first UK performance could have stuck in the memory like Radiohead in 1997 or The Flaming Lips in 2000 (where? You decide) - the anticipation was certainly of a comparable level. Instead, it'll be forever memorable for the could have aspect of the above sentence.