Malcolm Middleton @ Cabaret Voltaire, 27 Aug

Labelling Malcolm Middleton with the ‘miserable’ tag has long since been charged as lazy journalism. But tonight, with titles such as Loneliness Shines and songs where Malky fantasises about crashing his car just for some company, it’s a description that can be forgiven. Fortunately for us all, these less-than-cheery subjects are tempered with some jubilant and uplifting music performed by a more than capable backing band. Case in point is opening gambit Red Travellin’ Socks which sees the sweatbox that is Cabaret Voltaire full to the brim with good spirits. Tongue-in-cheek anthem We’re All Going To Die unsurprisingly receives the biggest cheer whilst a ramshackle set-closer of Bryan Adams’ classic Run To You shows once and for all that miserable or not, Malcolm doesn’t take himself too seriously. On the basis of tonight’s show we can only hope that statements of putting his solo guise to bed don’t come to fruition anytime too soon. [Darren Carle]