Wall-climbing nutters from Tel Aviv Monotonix may have had to work to win over the audience, but the Silver Jews were treated as returning heroes from the off. Not entirely at ease onstage, Berman’s appearance and body language gave him something of the air of an Americana Jarvis Cocker.

Given his utter refusal to tour until a couple of years ago, it was unsurprising to see that Berman simply couldn’t relax fully, but the laconic narratives and richly abstracted imagery he conjures probably don’t cry out for a Bono to perform them. His being still rather new to the business of live performance made his rendition of the tender ‘Tennessee’, sung to his wife, more touching thing than it would be in the hands of someone who had done this more often.

Alternating between new songs from the excellent Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea and the back-catalogue, this was a confident, highly competent band apparently yet to stop finding touring new and intriguing. A band that have reached maturity on record but are still a wide-eyed prospect live is an oddity, and this one at least are to be treasured.

Richard Davie
Photo: Shot2Bits.net