Photo: Madeleine Marx-Bentley

With her gentle acoustic guitar tunes and occasional bursts of Casio synth, Kissy Trouble seems an odd choice to open what is essentially a dance gig, but she holds her own, especially on a near-unrecognisable cover of Such Great Heights.

Roisin Murphy is the true star of the evening, though, her unshakable confidence, her astonishing vocal power and her truly weird sense of humour make for an amazing show. The early part of the set consists mostly of tracks from Overpowered – Murphy struts on to the thundering, cowbell-heavy techno of Crybaby before sliding into the sleek disco of You Know Me Better. Her backing band are truly excellent, able to bring out the funk nuances in tracks like Checkin’ On Me while jackhammer-ing the beats on harder, more electronic ones. Murphy dons a Little Red Riding Hood cloak for The Truth – originally a collaboration with Handsome Boy Modelling School, she plays it all, including the rap on the bridge, which she nails with alarming proficiency. There are too many highlights to mention, but here are four – a version of Moloko’s most explicitly techno track, Forever More, which comes complete with Roy Lichtenstein comic artwork on the backdrop; the sleazy synth-exploitation of Movie Star; the robot meltdown of Overpowered; the closing track, Ramalama Bang Bang, in which Murphy dons a post-modern chicken outfit and beats up one of her hot multi-ethnic backing singers. In a word: brilliant.

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

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