Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

It's not the most memorable Divine Comedy song, but we'll never forget this version. There's Neil Hannon on the stage of the Mandela Hall - the very place where his old band bowed out in 2001. He's got some fine players with him on stage tonight, and the Divine Comedy name has been duly revived. But there's another face up there with him: Peter Wilson from the support act, Duke Special. And together, they're gonna sing 'Mastermind'.

Peter's career is rising steadily this year, and he's just played a lovely, concise set. The Hannon fans have been very generous in their applause for 'Portrait', 'Freewheel' (a Duke sleeper that's sounding more impassioned every time), 'Last Night...' and 'Salvation Tambourine'. Everybody shouts out the "Belfast!" mention in 'Brixton Leaves' as the overlap between the two fan bases becomes clear.

Back to 'Mastermind', then. Peter Wilson takes a verse, dropping his loose Ulster vowels all over the place. Then Neil steps in the finish the sermon in his rarefied tones. "We all need reassurance as we play life's game of endurance", he warbles. Quite.

And Hannon himself is enduring nicely. The best bits of his new album are paraded, from 'Mother Dear' to a disco-tastic 'Diva Lady' and the sustained elegy of 'Lady Of a Certain Age', all poise and poignancy. Later he'll produce a 'jazz' magazine and some hankies to illustrate the fervour of 'To Die A Virgin', while the greatest prop is revealed for his impeccable cover of the Prince song 'Raspberry Beret'. Why, he's wearing a raspberry beret, of course...

Ignoring the tiresome requests for 'My Lovely Horse', Neil unpeels 'Songs Of Love' instead. Is there a better song that illustrates the tension between art and life, study and indulgence? And the later part of the show sends us off with big tunes of 'Something For The Weekend', 'National Express' and a severe 'Sunrise', just hours ahead of the anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing. No bad call, that.

Complaints? Well, we would have liked 'Absent Friends', 'Billy Bird', 'Everybody Knows', 'Frog Princess', even 'Perfect Lovesong'. We could have done without the pained histrionics of 'Plough'. But the quality threshold was still substantial, and the comic muse is cheerfully giving Hannon the V sign.

Stuart Bailie.
Photos by Keith Wilson