REVIEW: You Am I

So there's really no better place than to see these guys up close on a pub stage.

You Am I's last big national tour took the band back to the start to revisit their classic early albums Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily in full, playing theatre venues and the like for the tour which drew plenty of interest (so much so they had to add extra dates).

This time around - to promote new album Porridge & Hotsauce - they've booked an extensive national tour, with many of the shows taking them back into the venues where they cut their teeth.

You Am I on a smaller pub stage just feels right and it's the perfect environment to introduce the band's new album.

Recorded live to tape at a New York studio in just one week, the album is classic-sounding You Am I - thrilling, energised and a little rough around the edges.

"Rock'n'roll music is dance music," frontman Tim Rogers tells the crowd before they launched into Good Advices, the opening track from Porridge & Hotsauce.

It's an excellent introduction to the new record.

There's no bells and whistles, just solid tunes.

Ever the showman, Rogers - our much-loved, dishevelled national treasure - doesn't disappoint, dressed in a gold snakeskin jacket and leopard print shirt, the signature windmill guitar moves and twisted facial expressions are in full swing.

For the first time, guitarist Davey Lane has his spot up front to sing lead on two new tracks (Buzz The Boss and Out To The Now, Never) and he does a fine job at it.

"You're very good, David," Rogers approves from the sidelines

The new songs have no trouble slotting in alongside the band's back catalogue and tonight they revisit Sound As Ever, Get Up, Purple Sneakers, How Much Is Enough, along with Heavy Heart, which sees the rest of the band exit the stage while Rogers, accompanied by touring keyboard player Stevie Hesketh, sings sans guitar in a makeover of the melancholy anthem.

Cries for Berlin Chair are brushed off throughout the night but the band eventually delivers, with those familiar opening riffs kicking in as Rogers sings "If half of what I'm saying, of what I'm saying is true"...

They might be tired of it but the fans certainly are not.