Belle & Sebastian are a reliably great band, so no real surprise that this was a great show. Last tour they played the Forum, so it's a big jump to the Palais, but the show seemed to have sold pretty well. The band kicked off with two songs from their new album, which is always a ballsy opening move. The new tracks are good, but incredibly upbeat, which was a bit weird in a seated venue (with notoriously officious policies). After that most of the songs were fairly low tempo, until Stuart announced that anyone who wanted to dance should follow him, as he walked through the aisles. A large group ended up following him up to the stage for the Boy with the Arab Strap (one even having a go at singing a verse, despite not actually knowing the lyrics).
My only complaint was that it would have been nicer to have a slightly longer show. 90 minutes is really the minimum length for a headlining show, and B&S have a large enough (and good enough) back catalog to play at least a few more songs.
Nobody's Empire
The Party Line
Seeing Other People
Expectations
Beautiful
Allie
Perfect Couplles
The Fox in the Snow
Wrapped Up in Books
The Power of Three
Electronic Renaissance
Dirty Dream #2
A Summer Wasting
The Boy with the Arab Strap
Legal Man
Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying
Funny Little Frog
Me and the Major
FLAC
MP3
