Lucius

Whelan's, Wexford Street, Dublin - 25th October 2014
(Great little venue - take the virtual tour here)

Lucius

Genevieve - intro

I was first introduced to Lucius by Jools Holland's "Later" TV programme on April 22nd this year. I had tuned in specifically to listen to Paolo Nutini but was a little underwhelmed by his live performances on the show. In contrast, I was completely blown away by the two identically dressed girls and the three guys who performed "Go Home" and "Turn It Around". I immediately looked online - "if they were on Jools, they must be on a UK tour" I thought. I was right, but I'd just missed them. They had played Stereo in Glasgow on the 20th April! Then they were off on a US-wide tour for 5-6 months. In fact it seems that they've been touring for about 20 months with little respite, so when I saw the Dublin gig pop up on Songkick I think I might have purchased the very first tickets.

Whelan's was completely sold out (just over 400 people) and the packed crowd had obviously enjoyed the support Lapland (see below) but were eager to see the main act. They didn't have too long to wait as Peter Lalish (guitar), Andrew Burri (guitar and percussion) and drummer Dan Molad took to the small stage to loud cheers. Peter laid down the guitar melody while Andrew and Dan started the unmistakable percussion intro to Genevieve. 
Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig then came on stage in matching red outfits and blonde bobs, to even louder cheers, and added to the drumbeats, before launching into their trademark powerful harmonies "ooh wa-wa, ooh wa-a". This is the band's standard live opener and it sounded quite different from the recorded version on the "Wildewoman" LP - much more explosive and really tight soaring vocals. They ended the track on a glorious Lalish guitar riff and sudden combined drum crash. Silence, for about 5 milliseconds, and the crowd went wild. This was going to be good, I just knew!

Jess tends to be the chatty one on stage and she shouted out "Hi Dublin - great to be back here" (Lucius played The Workman's Club in April 2014). The vocal crowd responded with big cheers.

Photo courtesy of Maja Smiejkowska

Tempest was the next track - a long intro and some glorious closing harmonies from all five of the band. Followed by Don't Just Sit There which heralded the start of the crowd singalong participation. 

Wildewoman, the title track from their debut LP was notable for the falsetto male harmonies, some wonderful guitar from both Lalish and Burri and more audience contribution to the vocals.

The band rattled through the rest of the album, with obvious enjoyment of the appreciative Dublin crowd. The live versions were just so powerful with much more energy than I remembered from the digital/vinyl versions. One of the highlight moments was a truly epic version of "Go Home" where Jess asked "Do you guys know all the words?" and holding microphones out, she and Holly allowed the audience to sing almost all the choruses and some verses.

Crowd singing almost drowns out Jess and Holly

There is no doubt that Jess and Holly are the main focus of attention on stage, and genuinely connect with the audience, whether they are on keyboards, drums or vocals (impressively, occasionally all three) and the 3 chaps kinda stay out of the limelight, but from the first time I heard Go Home I was really impressed with Lalish and Burri's guitar sound. Never overbearing, never drowning out the others with the guitar hero thing, they just add such sublime layers and beautiful riffs that complement the vocals. I also had not realised, from listening to the album, what a driving force Dan was on the drums. In a live environment I suddenly understood how much of the band's appeal comes from his percussive rhythms. 

Jess and Holly suddenly produced pint glasses of Guinness (I think they were offered by crowd at the front) and to the delight of the onlookers, proceeded to down a good quantity of each pint. They probably needed fluids, they'd already finished the water bottles distributed on stage, and the heat in Whelan's was intense. "We're feeling your sweat up here" Jess explained.

After an excellent rocking version of Nobody Knows How Loud Your Heart Aches and Hey Doreen, the girls took front stage and using a single retro looking dual microphone they performed Wonderful (a My Morning Jacket cover) and Monsters - both slow-tempo numbers that emphasised the quality of the harmonies and unison vocals.

Slowing things down a little

Back into full blown action the band then performed Turn It Around, everyone participating on vocals ... which then morphed into a couple of verses and chorus of the Whitney Houston song I Wanna Dance with Somebody.. end of the first set.

The audience wanted and expected more, and made a huge amount of noise. Clapping and cheering to start, and then chanting "One more tune, one more tune" until of course the band came back. Lucius genuinely looked like they were having fun and didn't want to stop yet.

Jess quietened the audience and said "OK, we're going to do a couple of numbers without mikes so you'll have to be a little quiet" and she and Holly jumped down off the stage, followed by the chaps armed with acoustic guitars and a single drum. They wormed their way into the centre of the crowd and formed a small circle. This was obviously a well rehearsed move, but it didn't fail to impress all the same, as they launched into a beautiful, poignant The Two Of Us On The Run. This was sublime stuff, and they were so confident in amongst the rough and tumble of the crowd.

When they managed to quiet the crowd down again after this first encore, Jess said "Thank you so much Dublin. After being on the road for nearly 2 years, this is exactly what we needed - we love you guys." 

They followed this with a Kinks cover 'Strangers'. Again heart-searchingly beautiful harmonies, lovely duelling guitars and containing the appropriate lyrics "we are not two, we are one". 

The band then gave their thanks to crowd, and while receiving kisses and claps on the back, they made their way, not back to the stage but off to the left where there was a raised area with a hastily constructed merchandise stand. There they stayed for another 20-30 minutes, signing album covers, posters, t-shirts and generally chatting with the adoring punters. 

This was a gig that I will remember for a LONG time. 

--- Setlist ---
Genevieve
Tempest
Don't Just Sit There 
Wildewoman
Nothing Ordinary
Go Home
Until We Get There 
Nobody Knows How Loud Your Heart Aches
Hey Doreen
Wonderful  (My Morning Jacket cover)
Monsters
Turn it around
I Wanna Dance with Somebody  (Whitney Houston cover)

--- Encore --- Acoustic in middle of crowd.... 
The Two Of Us On The Run 
Strangers (Kinks cover) 

The support was: 

Lapland

Lapland is the pet project of Josh Mease (orginally from Texas, but now hailing from Brooklyn, NY, where the Lucius connection came about). The self-titled album was released earlier this year and when touring relatively locally in the US, Lapland are a 4-piece band. On this occasion it's Josh Mease on his own ("too expensive to tour as support with full band" Josh explains).

Lapland - Josh Mease

Josh engaged well with the swelling crowd, introducing the songs as "this is a country song", or "this is make-out song" and most strangely "Anybody here affected by asthma? Well this is a song about asthma" Metal Lungs.

His guitar playing was excellent and he also made good use of loop-pedals to accompany himself both with guitar and vocals for several songs. The overall feel and sound, initially sparse with just Josh on guitar, grew to sound like a full band with backing vocals as the set progressed. I was impressed enough to go buy the CD from the man himself after the show. Sample some of the tracks from Lapland here 

There was the carnival-esque atmosphere of “Memory, the jazzy shuffle of “Overboard” combines melancholy, minor-key verses with a breezy, harmony-filled chorus, while “Aeroplane” and “Fountains,” both feature 3/4 waltz time signatures. “Metal Lungs” rambles along with a chugging rhythm, twangy guitars and a catchy chorus, and standout track “Where Did It Go” ups the level of looped backing to semi-band levels.

The overall impression was of songs composed with great care and attention, initially sounding a little superficial, but with deeper introspective tones. Imagine Prefab Sprout meets Fleetwood Mac (from their Rumours days) and you'll be fairly close.



--- Setlist --- (needs some work)
Unwise
Drink Me Dry
Make out song ?
Memory
Metal Lungs
Medley - Overboard, Aeroplane, Fountains?
Where did it go

Dan Croll

The Liquid Room, Edinburgh - 17th October 2014

Dan Croll

My initial introduction to Dan Croll was one of those "listen to this fabulous new artist" emails that seem to arrive every day in my inbox. The track that was being promoted in 2012 was From Nowhere and it did prompt me to investigate further. Wikipedia said: "Daniel Francis "Dan" Croll (born 18 July 1990) is a British singer-songwriter born in Newcastle-under-Lyme. He moved to Liverpool when he was 18 to attend the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). While at LIPA, he won the national Songwriter of the Year award and was one of eight students picked to have a one-to-one with LIPA founder Sir Paul McCartney."

The song that really piqued my interest later was Home, released in Dec 2013, which is a beautifully written, slightly tongue in cheek, song about Dan's feelings about family and home, and how good they make him feel.

This gig in the Liquid Rooms was part of Croll’s first headline tour in support of his debut album, Sweet Disarray released earlier this year.

The band came on followed by the man himself, looking every part the slightly gauche, naive frontman. They wasted no time in launching into ‘Compliment Your Soul’ to the roaring response of the audience. This was followed by ‘Thinkin Aboutchu’ and ‘In/Out’, exploring the diverse range of genres and abilities that Croll demonstrates throughout Sweet Disarray. The translation of the album to the stage is as impressive as Croll’s repertoire itself – the electronic beats, the alluring guitar hooks, the catchy choruses; all these sound better and more dynamic when experienced live.

His appearance belies his confidence on stage however and there is no pretension or shyness in his stage persona, as he engages frequently and cheerfully with his band and audience. He went into great detail on the delicacies they had sampled in Pizza Express at the top of Cockburn Street just before the gig - Calzones all round apparently.

The band have worked with the South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo recently in Durban, on Hello My Baby and Ever At Your Side, and the quality of the harmonies during those songs was testimony to that collaboration. Beautiful stuff.

They polished off the first set with a stonking version of Home, complete with serious audience singalong and some wild dancing in the front few rows of the crowd. The band departed while the audience called for more, more.

When they did return, it was to perform a stripped back and very mellow encore set, starting off with his first ever single Marion, followed by Eyes Together and the title track from the new LP.

As I left the Liquid Room I reflected on the show. Well put together set, good songs well performed. I'm sure the lad from Staffordshire will do well. I even had the opportunity to chat briefly to Peter Kirk of Panama Wedding. All in all a great evening!

--- Setlist ---
Compliment Your Soul 
Thinkin Aboutchu (sic) 
Only Ghost 
In/Out 
Can You Hear Me 
Must Be Leaving 
Wanna Know 
Maway 
Hello My Baby 
Ever At Your Side 
From Nowhere 
Always Like This 
Home 

-- Encore: --
Marion 
Eyes Together 
Sweet Disarray 

Panama Wedding 

New York based quartet Panama Wedding opened proceedings with a rousing set of their lively synth-guitar-pop, delivering a joyfully upbeat and infectious sound.

Panama Wedding

The group, formed from the computer-based solo work of front man Peter Kirk before expanding into the multi-instrumentalist four-piece we see today, have grown in status this summer after the success of their EP Parallel Play. Tracks such as ‘All of the People’ and ‘Una’ exemplify their feel-good, boppy motif, and they were revelling in the opportunity to impress a wider audience during their supporting tour with Dan Croll. The crowd response was really positive – if at first unsure, the dancing and applause as the set came to a close confirmed the deserved popularity of Panama Wedding.

--- Setlist ---

Uma 

Trust 

(Unknown) ("Sit Outside")

(Unknown) ("Don't Give Up")

All Of The People 

Olive Grove Label Showcase - The Pleasance Sessions

Olive Grove Label Showcase

11th October 2014 - The Pleasance, Edinburgh

 On the bill were: Call To Mind; Skinny Dipper; The Moth & The Mirror; Woodenbox

In the courtyard of the Pleasance Theatre they were holding the Och!toberfest Beer Festival - a lovely candelabra lit marquee offering liquid delights from a diverse selection of brewers. One of Stewarts and one of Dusty Moose, plus a generous helping of haggis, neeps and tatties, left us in a good mood and ready for anything.

Och!toberfest Marquee

Organised by Lloyd Meredith and his team, Olive Grove Records showcase main aim is "is to release good music and not lose too much money". Lloyd was wandering about in his natty "I Can't Dance To This Music" baseball cap, enjoying the ambience.
The theatre was barely half full when we arrived, so we plumped for some near-front seats and relaxed, listening to the eclectic mix of tunes the DJ/sound guy was playing. 

The stage

Call To Mind 

..were up first, and I was really looking forward to their set - in fact they were the main reason I was there. I'd seen them once before in Glasgow as part of a fund-raising event for the Cairn String Quartet and had followed their progress ever since, and purchasing their debut LP The Winter Is White some months ago. The album is full of beautifully crafted tunes and I'd recommend listening to it here.
Normally the lineup consists of brothers Martin Ross (vocals, keyboards and guitar) and Jamie Ross (guitar, vocals) with Andrew Masson (bass), Joe Smillie (drums), Steven Gribbin (guitar, vocals). Unfortunately they were without a keyboard player on this occasion. 

Call To Mind

This meant that as a 4-piece, the beautiful swirling sounds (described by one critic as "how Joy Division would sound covering Dark Side Of The Moon") I'd hoped to hear were marred by excessive guitar feedback, and too-loud guitar loops. I seldom recognised much of what they played.  

The one exception was "Untitled" which started off really well, then the overbearing guitar kicked in and it was lost.

I was really disappointed, and my gig-buddy was even more vocal in dislike. Such a shame as I really do think they've got great potential, but it didn't show here.

--- Setlist probably included ---

A Family Sketch 
Breathe 
Over The Machair 
Untitled 
Chemotherapy

Skinny Dipper

This was the second time I'd seen the Skinnies and they didn't fail to impress again.

Skinny Dipper

Skinny Dipper are made up of members from an array of Scottish talent including: singer Alex Kenzel (blochestra), bass player Vicki Cole (Randolph’s Leap) violinist Heather Thikey (Randolph’s Leap, Kill The Waves), trumpet player Ali Hendry (Randolph’s Leap), keyboardist and vocalist Gillian Higgins, violinist Cat Calton (Aerial’s Up), Ruth Campbell (Aerial’s Up, Quickbeam), Monika Gromek (Quickbeam) and Iain Symes-Marshall (Trapped In Kansas).

Higgins and Kenzel took it in turns to provide lead vocals and the whole ensemble joined in to provide a gorgeous wall-of-sound on Hospital Bed.

Great set!

---Setlist included ---

Landing

Hospital Bed

The Kids Are Moving On 

Cellphones

Son Of A Mitch

The Moth & The Mirror

The Moth & The Mirror

The Moth & The Mirror have been proclaimed as a Scottish supergroup, comprising of members taken from an array of Scottish talent including: Stacey Sievwright from The Reindeer Section and Arab Strap (vocals/guitar), Gordon Skene from Frightened Rabbit (guitar/vocals), Louis Abbott from Admiral Fallow and Song of Return (guitar/vocals) Kevin McCarvel (bass), Iain Sandilands (percussion) and Peter Murch (drums).

Entertaining set, with a couple of fun moments - one where there was a 10-15 second pause before the song continued. Explained afterwards as a "special version" due to forgotten words, currently not available on the new album Honestly, This World.

Sievewright's vocals were strong and she and Skene are definitely the frontmen, working off each other and enjoyable to hear.

-- Setlist included --

Everyone I Know

Fire

Beautiful Creature 

Honestly, This World 

Hope Is An Anchor 

Oceans & Waves 

Woodenbox

Woodenbox

Some may know the band as Woodenbox with a Fistful of Fivers, but the 6-piece have decided to shorten it down to the humble Woodenbox. Now signed to Olive Grove they have gained a reputation for great live gigs with a mariachi trumpet backing (3 of them).

I enjoyed their first few numbers, but was not able to stay for the full set. 

Highlights were Besides The Point and Hang The Noose.

Definitely worth another listen here 

-- Setlist included --

Besides The Point

Everyone Has a Price

Twisted Mile

Hang The Noose

Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Queens Hall, Edinburgh, 28th Sept 2014

Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Everyone will have probably heard Sophie's earlier works from her days as a disco diva. You will definitely know Murder on the Dance Floor, but there are about 4 or 5 other tracks from the late 1990's/early 2000s that you will have tapped your toe to on Radio 2, or if you're old enough, strutted your stuff to, on the dance floor - e.g. her cover of Cher's "Take Me Home"

There have been a number of collaborations and albums since that time, which I have to confess I have not really heard in detail, but the release of Wanderlust in Jan 2014 definitely did catch my ear. All the songs on the Wanderlust album were co-written by Ed Harcourt, who also produced the album, and his input has been beneficial in my humble opinion.

At the allotted time (21:00 ish) the band took their places, the packed Queen's Hall audience went wild as Sophie skipped on, dressed in red (matching the initial lighting). She said "Hi Edinburgh" and went on to talk about enjoying her previous Scottish gig at Oran Mor earlier this year. Many of the die-hard fans at the front had been there too, and cheered enthusiastically. 

The band launched into Birth Of An Empire, an eastern sounding film-score-sort-of-song. The vocals were good, and the keyboards and twin violins made this a great opener.
Until the Stars Collide was next, highlighting just how good Sophie's vocals are live. 

In the next break, Ellis-Bextor took time to chat about life on the tour bus (a very large dark-windowed vehicle parked just outside the Queen's Hall) and the previous night's drink fuelled conga injury to Ed Harcourt. He raised his hand and smiled sheepishly.
She also made a self depreciating reference to her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and said that her stage moves had not improved despite intensive training last year. 

In fact, she worked the stage very well, always quirky and flirty, keeping the crowd entertained, moving very confidently and providing excellent vocals throughout. 

Runaway Daydreamer, The Deer And The Wolf and Young Blood that followed were all considerably better than the album versions, and When The Storm Has Blown Over was simply beautiful. You could see why Sophie and this group line-up had won Best Live Act prize at the AIM Awards in Sept 2014.

The crowd were then given the opportunity to choose between a Britpop or 80s cover. The choices were:  Do You Remember the First Time? (Pulp) or True Faith (New Order). There was no contest in the mind of the audience, and the version of True Faith they performed was really excellent - I wish there was some web footage to share here.

Another cover, this time an Ed Harcourt track from his album Lustre provided an opportunity for Ed to take lead vocals with Sophie backing him. 

A seriously rocking version of 13 Little Dolls had the crowd bouncing, followed by Love Is A Camera and Cry To The Beat Of The Band, this completed the first set. Sophie dashed off, the band played on to complete "Beat Of The Band", and then they too retired.

Disco Negligee

They all returned after much audience noise. Sophie had slipped into "something more comfortable" (a disco negligee I think) and gave us a fabulous rolling medley of all the disco hits ending with "Murder".  The Queen's Hall was jumping and sweaty hot, especially at the front of the stage. Finally they came to a finish and both Sophie and Ed dashed off stage, while the rest of the band took the tumultuous applause.

But still no house lights. Would there be another encore?

Sophie and Ed unplugged

Suddenly there was cheer from further back in the hall, and there were Ed and Sophie standing in the middle of the crowd, at the mixing desk, on a raised platform. 

The crowd went wild, but eventually quietened down after much shushing, as Ed strummed the guitar and Sophie began to sing Interlude:
It's clearly plain to see
The sun is breaking through the clouds
I'm falling through a dream

You could have heard a pin drop (with the exception of the drunken muppet next to me who felt the need to scream "We love you Sophie" half way through the song. 

Surprisingly excellent gig (well it was for me, as I'd never seen Ms Ellis-Bextor perform live before) and the adoring audience left at speed to be first in line at the merchandise stall, where Sophie had offered earlier to give kisses and sign anything we wanted. Glorious night.

Band:
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – vocals
Seton Daunt – guitar
Ed Harcourt – backing vocals, guitar, keyboards
Richard Jones – bass
Gita Langley – violin
Rosie Langley – violin 

Set-list:
Birth Of An Empire
Until The Stars Collide
Runaway Daydreamer
The Deer And The Wolf
Young Blood
When The Storm Has Blown Over
True Faith (New Order cover)
Wrong Side Of The Sun
When the Lost Don't Want to Be Found (Ed Harcourt cover)
13 Little Dolls
Love Is A Camera
Cry To The Beat Of The Band
----- encore ----
Take Me Home 
Lady (Hear Me Tonight)
Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
Sing It Back
Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)
Murder On The Dancefloor
--- final track ---
Interlude (Acoustic Sophie and Ed)

Ella The Bird 

The support was Ella The Bird  - the new alter-ego of Siobhan Wilson, and having seen her perform a couple of times before, I was looking forward to her set. 
She came on quietly, and proceeded to bring a hush to the Queen's Hall.

Ella The Bird (formerly known as Siobhan Wilson)

The first half of her 6 song set was performed at the keyboard, including a lovely heart-breaking version of Joni Mitchell's Case Of You.
Her gentle voice, breathy and intimate, soared at times to bring smiles of delight from the audience.
She then picked up her guitar for the remainder and finished off with the crowd pleasing favourite All Dressed Up. 


Need more info on the full setlist

First Aid Kit and Jo Rose

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow. 16th Sept 2014

This was my first ever visit to the Old Fruitmarket venue in the Candleriggs area of Glasgow. Beautiful venue and pretty good acoustics.

Old Fruitmarket

First Aid Kit

Indie/folk band First Aid Kit consists of Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, who have been gathering fans since the release of 'Drunken Trees' EPs in 2009. They then released two albums ‘The Big Black and The Blue’ and ‘The Lion’s Roar’. I first heard them on a late night Radio 6 Music playlists back in 2010 performing Screw Me Up And Throw Away, and made a note to find out more about them (* See note at bottom and comments related to this track)

First Aid Kit

This tour is to promote their latest album ‘Stay Gold’ released in June 2014.

The lineup for this gig was:
Klara Söderberg - Vocals, guitar
Johanna Söderberg - Vocals, keyboard
Melvyn Duffy - Pedal steel, guitar
Niclas Lindström - Drums

Klara

The two men in the band, Melvyn and Niclas came on to a recorded backing tune, more ambient than anything else, and settled into their seats, gradually adding some steel guitar and drums to the mix before Johanna and Klara burst onto the stage.

The venue was pretty full and their arrival was greeted enthusiastically by the very mixed crowd. I was quite impressed by the 1970s (and dare I say Abba) inspired outfits :-)
They kicked off their set with Stay Gold, the title track from the new album and also the wording on Klara's very new guitar strap. It was a good start - the sound was great, the harmonies excellent, and Melvyn's pedal steel guitar was glorious (note to self - investigate more Melvyn Duffy).

Klara tends to take the lead in crowd interaction, and after the opener she thanked Jo Rose for opening for them, and mentioned that he was ok (see details below). She talked about the beauty of the venue, their new album produced by Mike Mogis and introduced the band.

Blue was next with such beautiful harmonies. They are, in my opinion, more country than folk, but the new album definitely mixes up the genres a little more than previous offerings.

The Waitress Song sounded like a sweetly sung diary entry:
I could move to a small town, and become a waitress
Say my name was Stacey and I was figuring things out
See, my baby, he left me and I don't feel like staying here tonight

It's hard to explain the attraction of First Aid Kit to someone who has never heard them, but the next couple of tracks would be a good place to start. Shattered and Hollow, and Cedar Wood have melody and harmonies to die for. At several points the pedal steel and the soaring harmonies made me think of an unlikely alliance between Gram Parsons and the Cocteau Twins.

It was hot, damn hot, in the Old Fruitmarket and Klara took a break to swig from a 2 litre bottle of "sugar free" Irn Bru, much to the delight of the crowd. She passed the bottle to Johanna, saying "we can't get this in Sweden - have a taste". Johanna impressed everyone by drinking the best part of a litre!

Klara and Irn Bru

The next track was Ghost Town and they did this from the front of the stage, no microphones, and guitar unplugged. This was obviously a well rehearsed move, the vocals were strong, and slowly but surely the crowd began to sing along until by the end Klara let the audience do some on their own! This was one of the real highlights of their set, and it sent shivers down my spine.

Johanna and Klara unplugged

My Silver Lining was good, but there was a fluffed line or two. In the Hearts of Men didn't start at all, as Johanna lost the intro and asked to do something else, but these were very minor and the rest of the performance was polished perfection.

One of the other highlights was the Jack White cover Love Interruption. Melvyn abandoned his pedal steel for some real rock guitar and the crowd were jumping.

The Lion's Roar was an uptempo finish to the initial set, and they rounded off the encores with their cover of Paul Simon's America, Master Pretender and Emmylou, a real crowd pleaser.

Setlist: 

Stay Gold
Blue
King of the World
Waitress song
Shattered and Hollow
In the Hearts of Men (abandoned)
Cedar Wood
Ghost town
My Silver Lining
Wolf
Love Interruption (Jack White cover)
Heaven Knows
The Lion's Roar
-- Encore --
America (Paul Simon cover)
Master Pretender
Emmylou

-----------

* Screw Me Up and Throw Away is not by Johanna and Klara, but rather a Spanish duo of the same name (Agnès Aran and Carles Querol). So I was mistaken when I began to investigate the Swedish duo on the strength of this late night listening, however the internet is full of references attributing the song to the Swedish Duo. Anyway, thanks to my anonymous contributor for pointing this out.

-----------

Jo Rose

Jo Thomas Rose is a singer-songwriter from Manchester. He was previously a member of the alternative rock band Fear of Music. His debut solo album Spurs was released on 21 August 2014. 

Jo Rose

Jo has recently been working closely with Klara of the Kit on a few projects, and I did hear from someone in the crowd (obviously someone with a lot more music related info than me) that there is a romantic connection between the two.

He came on stage to a warm, but not rapturous, welcome, and chatted away quite happily for a while. Jo is quite quietly spoken (more American than Manchester), but really did engage with the audience. He talked about the new album and how it was available for download or as a CD from the merchandise stand at the back. He even mentioned that we might download it from bit torrent or another freebie download site, but he hoped not. He mentioned that Klara (from the Kit) was on a couple of the tracks.

Thoughtful, and often clever lyrics, a good voice (belied by his soft spoken tones) and some neat acoustic guitar made this a perfect opener for First Aid Kit. 

I really enjoyed his set, particularly The King Of Your Blue Eyes and I'm Yr Kamera

However, after saying he'd see everyone at the merchandise stand a little later (no need to buy, happy to shoot the breeze) he seemed a little distressed, constantly touching his head or adjusting the mike stand, and mid-way through his final song, he collapsed onto the stage, face first onto his still strapped on guitar. Turns out he is epileptic, and this was a short fit, possibly brought on by the heat in the hall. 
There was a long break while the medics (from the venue and the crowd) attended to Jo, and then he was lifted into a standing position supported by the stage crew to much applause from the crowd and helped off stage.

This appeared later on his Twitter feed:

Setlist:

Without You
The Maiden name
King Of Your Blue Eyes
Another Name For Mercy
Terrible liar
I'm Yr Kamera
Balcony Doors