Teddy Thompson @ ABC

Teddy Thompson's musical heritage would suggest good things are in store for the ABC audience tonight. His voice is a strong one, sometimes country tinged, often remarkably like his father Richard, but either way happily filling the cavernous venue, and his stage manner is confident and easy going, more than capable of coping with occasional minor timing gaffes. But it's his songs that let him down: a mostly pleasant, but really rather dull collection, some with nice melodies and discernable lyrics, some just dirges. Attempts at bluesy, hard-drinking laments fall flat and slower numbers are in danger of comatosing either himself or the audience. The arrival of the band doesn't hugely help, the double bass player under the impression that his instrument is more for leaning on than playing, the set finally descending fully into traditional country ballads a la Jim Reeves circa 1959. It's maybe saying something when the night's strongest song was written by Dolly Parton. [Paul Greenwood]