Paul Haig @ Cabaret Voltaire, 4 Aug
An enjoyable hometown gig for Haig, even if nearly all the city stayed at home
If the turnout for local boy and former Josef K front-man Paul Haig’s show in Cabaret Voltaire is disappointing, it doesn’t seem to faze him tonight. “Take something bad and make it into something good,” he advises the small gathering, leading by example. Despite years of solo activity, Haig still effortlessly oozes the qualities of a lead singer. His band are air-tight and compliment his Costello meets former Postcard stable mates Go-Betweens songsmithery perfectly, freeing him up to look indifferent, preoccupied and to tell one rowdy reveller to “shut up,” when he asks the sound man to crank it up to eleven. His sometime sprechgesang delivery, though, is at times too languid for its own good: a mid-section threatens boredom before it is dragged kicking, if not screaming, towards the finish line by the pulsating, shuddering Troublemaker. ‘They’ say you can’t please them all, but Haig’s set gives it a fair bash tonight, even if ‘they’ aren’t out in force. [Finbarr Bermingham]