The turn out to see first support act, American Kelli Scarr, is fairly meagre, which is a shame considering just how good she is. Playing guitar and singing with just a drummer for backing she manages to draw the listener into a beautiful ambient soundscape. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has had some form of classical training too with her voice going from the softest notes too divaesque highs in an instant. Her guitar playing adds shoegaze layers to the minimalist arrangements. The best tracks are Anything and the slow desolate pop of Brother.

When the second act comes on the crowd has increased a little bit however the talent of the band has not. Tim and Jean play a sort of bad pastiche of of 80’s electro pop coming off like Wham meets Midnight Juggernauts. It’s the type of music you should only enjoy after getting excessively drunk stumbling into a Karaoke bar and still in your mind you’re not taking it seriously as music. It’s all bad falsetto, keyboards, synths, auto tune and… more keyboards. Two keyboardists standing front of stage and throwing in awkward hand claps does not make a good performance.

After an ambient intro Moby takes to the stage fronting a six piece band. With Moby playing guitar for the majority of the show his able to move freely around stage, increasing the energy levels, whilst the band rip through brilliant interpretations of his recorded material. The crowd seems more than happy that Moby decides to focus strongly on material from Play and 18 with newer albums barely getting a look in.

However he does a brilliant version of lead single Pale Horses, his vocals being in better form than is often seen from him as he gently begs to, “Put me on the train, send me back my home…” Support act Kelli Scarr brings her ethereal vocals in, filling the shoes of Sinead O’Connor on Great Escape and staying to play keys and several guest vocalist duties. Moby seems to have a story for every song telling us that he wasn’t sure how well the next song would go down in a Victorian Theatre such as The Palace compared to Falls. The song was Body Rock and he had nothing to worry about as the house exploded turning into a giant dance party.

Throughout the night Moby shows his diversity jumping between guitar, vocals, keys and bongos. He doesn’t lie either when he says how talented his band is, my only qualm being that the violin sometimes seems lost in the mix. Other highlights include We Are All Made Of Stars, Porcelain, Extreme Ways, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad and a duet cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire.

The set closed with three early house/techno tracks in which the audience becomes a seething mass silhouetted by strobe light. After a mercifully brief gap he returns for an encore which includes a version of Honey that somehow diverges into a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love before going back again.

He finished up with a track he says he has been closing with for over fourteen years, the ebullient trance/techno of Feeling So Real, but not before teasing us with a country version of said song. The thing is he pulls it off, it’s this complete diversity within his music that holds sway over us for the entire length of his set, lets hope he’s still this good in another fourteen years.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE