Daniel Johnston @ Queen's Hall, 4 Nov

From the eerie silence filling the packed auditorium of the Queen's Hall, it’s clear that this is no ordinary gig. The usual pint-holding scrum of attendees in checked shirts has been replaced by a politely seated congregation waiting in rapt anticipation for their unlikely hero, American singer-songwriter and 'outsider artist' Daniel Johnston. People have been counting down to this show for months.

So great is this audience's devotion, they even enthusiastically applaud support act Laura Marling's fey witterings, despite a significant number looking near-suicidal at her seemingly endless stream of inane rhyming couplets. When the man himself takes to the stage, the crowd erupts before settling into a reverent hush as he begins his pared-down set. For the first half it’s just Johnston and a guitarist. Later, he brings on a backing band in the form of support act The Wave Pictures, whose Butlins house band-alike style proves strangely poignant when accompanying the magical tragedy of his lyrics.

Johnston appears both excited and extremely nervous at being on stage, grinning at the warmth emanating from the audience even as the shaking in his hands reaches violent levels. His struggles with mental illness are well documented, but that doesn’t matter tonight. Speeding Motorcycle and Bloody Rainbow are huge crowd pleasers, while his Come Together cover inspires a large part of the previously sedate audience to break out in whoops. For tonight, the demons are laid to rest, and Daniel Johnston can do no wrong. [Rosamund West]