大象传媒

Given this reviewer once stood on a stage and informed a couple of thousand people that Neil Hannon deserved his place alongside Wilson and Lennon as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, expectations for tonight's performance were, needless to say, a little high.

With hindsight, it was unfair to put Neil Hannon on such a daft pedestal - the guy is very human and, tonight anyway, visible nervous. He'll inform us it's only his second time ever performing solo, before cursing his way through those particularly tricky piano solos. Bum notes and missed lyrics dominate about half the songs performed. During 'My Imaginary Friend' he'll actually stop to consider the lyrics ("what would I have written next?") before a superfan in the front row comes to the rescue.

For the most part he'll charm his way out of it, of course. It's too hard to stay mad at Neil Hannon as, over a ninety minute set, he'll reminds us of just how many incredible melodies and lyrics he's written in the last fifteen odd years.

'Tonight We Fly' is the perfect opener, selected, like the entire setlist, because it works surprisingly well on just piano or just guitar. 'Bath' is one of a few selected to keep the most devoted of fan happy, while 'Die a Virgin' is one for the newcomers.

He moves from the "G&T spot" (stage left - piano) to the "Guinness spot" (front centre - guitar) for 'Becoming More Like Alfie', the first song to get a proper reaction from this strange gathering of people in the Andytown Leisure Centre. It's obviously a little surreal watching this performance in a gymnasium, but it's been well dressed and looks fantastic. Furthermore, this crowd, or at least the punters who got up from the school-dinner style seating, are showing a little respect and attention.

Let's not dwell too much on the middle section of tonight's performance, when things start going badly wrong during the likes of the 'The Plough' and move on to the last half hour of the show, which is more than a little special.

'Songs of Love' goes down an absolute treat, especially with that added "saw" solo (basically Neil wailing with some echo-y effect on his vocal) while 'Jiggery Pokery', that silly song about Shane Warne from the Duckworth Lewis Method album, is as close as we'll get to a genuine knees-up. Probably the first ever song about cricket to be performed at the West Belfast Festival as well.

What follows that though, is probably the finest fifteen minutes of music this reviewer has ever witnessed. 'If', an equally sinister and sweet song of absolute devotion and the heartbreaking 'Our Mutual Friend' are both performed beautifully. And just when we're on the ropes, Hannon plays 'Sunrise', his own take on the pointlessness of the troubles in Northern Ireland. It gets the biggest cheer of the night and more than a few tears. Deservedly so - it's beyond wonderful. All is forgiven.

Then, 'National Express' ends the night on an inevitable high, with the type of sing-song perfect for a West Belfast crowd that started drinking a good five hours ago.

Based on the selection of songs performed tonight (if not the overall performance of same) ATL will continue to make bold, outrageous remarks about the genius of Enniskillen's Neil Hannon. Why? Because we believe it to be true.

Rigsy