Gig review: Leo condie Sings the Songs of Jacques Brel

WHERE better to pay tribute to the mighty Belgian crooner Jacques Brel than in the bar which bears his name – and in front of a poster of the great man in full flight, no less.

If Leo Condie, the frontman of Glasgow indie band The Low Miffs, performing his first gig since a serious cycling accident six months ago, was conscious of that formidable legacy, he betrayed no nerves as he launched into a rapid-fire Jackie, as demanding a warm-up number as they come.

Brel songs demand to be acted and attacked as much as sung and while Condie was not always bang on the tune, he was all over the complex delivery without sacrificing anything in the enunciation, investing totally in the words even as he tossed his hair or fiddled with his shirt cuffs or flopped theatrically into a chair as he began Next.

Every Brel song is a visceral journey and this one started with enervation and ended in desperation, while The Gas travelled from a droll croon to overwrought comic anecdote. Pianist Ewan Fulton was with Condie every step of the way.

His rendition of the darkly humorous Funeral Tango secured him some future bookings for audience members' funerals, while My Death provided a contrasting dose of straightforward soul-bearing and the elegiac Sons Of served as a comparatively serene breather before the Sturm und Drang of Amsterdam brought the show to a melodramatic climax.