The show I waited ten years for. Back in 1997, excited by their then recent 'Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot' album I bought tickets to see Sparklehorse at the Fleece and Firkin . Me being me, it wasn't until a couple of days after the show that I noticed that I'd forgotten to go. Bummer.

Sparklehorse is effectively a one man band, Mark Linkous accompanied and augmented by associate musicians. The sound is hard to describe. All the albums I have to date ( including the brand new 'Dreamt For Light Years In the Belly Of A Mountain' , they're good at wordy titles ) are clearly drawn from the same well, somewhere between lo-fi americana and the Beatles' 'White' album . There might be banjo. It's intricately put together work, great for headphones, ranging from engagingly delicate and fragile, to loud and clanging, with a rich variety of timbre and texture, speech fragments and radio static popping in and out on occasion. The sort of records that really reward repeat listening. It's all stitched together with excellent effected and distorted vocals and guitar.

This time around, I remembered to go. An unfortunately forgettable support act aside, it was an excellent night. The start wasn't promising. Mark ( surprisingly tall ) was striding around the bar beforehand, looking quite worried, and the opening song crashed ruefully to a halt and had to be restarted. Once they hit their stride it was fine Some of the more delicate songs seemed doomed to fall to pieces at any moment, but this effectively conveyed some of the woozy, broken-radio flavour of the original recordings. It was a rich set, that covered all the back catalogue evenly, as well as the new release. A very partisan crowd, with lots of requests shouted, and audience singalongs cheerfully encouraged from the stage.

The only disappointment for me was the lack of any merchandising. I did sign up an email address with a marketing type who seemed to be doling out promotional badge packs, but he'd run out. Well, I suppose my T-shirt drawer is a little overful. I'd also have really liked to hear them play 'Cow'. Still, I'm glad to say there was no anticlimax, even after such a ridiculously long wait. Hopefully it won't be another five years between albums.