大象传媒

It takes guts to come to Belfast and start your set with an unaccompanied song. Bands far tougher than Trembling Bells have fallen foul of the dreaded Belfast chatter as people discuss their holiday plans. Yet the band engage from the outset, coming across like Teenage Fanclub meeting Rush. It's a mark above the standard twee Glasgow fare and well worth checking out.

Death no longer holds dominion over Bonny 'Prince' Billy - at least not in the way it used to. It's over 10 years since his break-through album 'I See A Darkness' was released. Ten years since it received an unprecedented 10.0 on Pitchfork, ten years since Johnny Cash covered the title track on American III, and ten years since he launched a million mountain-man beard, plaid shirt and trucker hat combinations on the hipster collective conscience.

The album saw him unfairly labelled as an arch-miserablist, when in reality it spoke of a truly adult angst, one familiar to anyone getting used to the long slog of work, bereavement and the joys and pain of grown up life. Yet tonight's Will Oldham has turned his back on the darkness and sings of love and lust, as well as the pressures of being such an admired musician.

Not that this move to the light has made things any more comfortable. A trip to a Bonny 'Prince' Billy concert is to invite him to tear open any sutures you might still have on your heart, hold up a mirror to the way you've treated your loved ones and to get in touch with some home truths. It's Stanislavski on stage and exhilarating as only true catharsis can be.

Oldham himself has a unique stage presence, at times scarily focused, at other times playful, but never less than compelling. He illustrates his songs near literally at times, he beats his heart like a southern preacher and when confronted by a heckler he holds his gaze over the duration of the next song in a move that turns a rather sweet lovesong into a tacit threat.

The music itself is an absolute delight - provided by the Cairo Gang (containing two of the Trembling Bells) and consisting of simple acoustic guitar, bass, bodhran and melodica knocking the rough edges off some of Oldham's spikier moments. The three-part harmonies lift the songs to the rafters of a sold-out Empire before bringing them back down to the audience.

Oldham's humility is touching and his work ethic starkly illustrated by the sweat soaked shirt on his back - this is one performer who holds nothing from the crowd and wears his heart on his sleeve. It is all about the love.

Shane Horan