Live review: The Blue Neil

Published on Friday 11 July 2008 01:05

THE BLUE NILE **** GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL

"YOU'RE back!" someone shouted at Paul Buchanan at the beginning of the Blue Nile's three-night Glasgow residency, their first live shows in two years. So he turned and showed the audience his back. Cue rapturous applause. It was a very Blue Nile moment: a self-deprecating joke prompting adulation.

But the Blue Nile merit adulation. The band's famous perfectionism means their rare live shows are meticulously prepared and rehearsed – close your eyes and you could be listening to their records. Which didn't stop Buchanan visibly fretting over the sound, the tuning of his guitar, etc. Instead of between-song patter, he mostly gave us worried sighs and flapping hands.

There was (surprise, surprise) no new material, just faithful reproductions of choice cuts from the band's four albums since 1983. complete with some now very dated synth sounds. You can't help wishing they would leave their comfort zone more often – for instance, a real string section would have been an improvement on the synthesised strings offered, but perhaps that was beyond their budget.

Where perfection was most lacking was in the song choices. The Blue Nile have always walked a fine line between timeless, understated, atmospheric melancholia and bland 1980s balladry with ill-advised funk stylings. Mostly they stay on the right side, but sometimes, particularly on uneven third album Peace at Last, they really don't – Sentimental Man sounds like the result of some ungodly collaboration between Michael Nyman and Huey Lewis.

There is no arguing, though, with the transcendent pop of Tinseltown in the Rain or Downtown Lights, or with poignant piano pieces such as Easter Parade and Family Life, all faultlessly performed to a hall in which you could hear a pin drop.