King Creosote & Jon Hopkins @ Grand Ole Opry, 7 September

It's the evening after the night before; you’d never guess by looking at them that Fife’s favourite troubadour King Creosote, or his ivory-twinkling producer and partner in crime Jon Hopkins, had been nominees at the Mercury prize only 24 hours earlier – perhaps only KC’s comfort-fit brown t-shirt hinting at a lingering hangover.

The duo open with the highlights from nominated record Diamond Mine, the emotional clout of stand-out tracks – such as Bubble or Bats in the Attic – hits harder live than their ambient counterparts on record, although opener John Taylor’s Month Away, and its partially gloating, partially consoling ‘I’d much rather be me' refrain is smothered not in the intended melancholic melody, but by feedback squall. The intensity of these new compositions is such that the King’s usually entertaining between song banter seems slightly off-key tonight, the man himself needlessly apologising for a downbeat tempo.

Then there's the promise of hits, but instead we get old favourites like Homeboy and Not One Bit Ashamed mixed with a trawl through the lesser-heard end of the Fife troubadour’s back catalogue: the childhood tale Spokes, a wonderfully taut And The Racket They Made, and the comparably clumsy Spystick. The duo finish in theatrical style, with a bow, and a cover of Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U, which, echoing the sad delights already performed, makes complete and perfect sense.