Hitting the stage some 15 or 20 minutes after they were scheduled to start, the Tuscon, Arizonian collective has already graced us with their presence earlier this evening. Calexico come off the sidelines to support their support, Spanish singer/songwriter/guitarist Jairo Zavala aka DePedro, who incidentally flourishes on electric guitar when he later plays most of their show. Joey Burns, John Convertino and co ease into tonight’s set with a little Feast Of Wire back catalogue, taking in Sunken Waltz, Pepita and Not Even Stevie Nicks – this beauty even offering us up a little wig-out psychedelia and krautrock action.

Sweeping progressions pervade the room spaghetti western style as the old familiar dusty, shuffle-heavy rhythms of Calexico spread plenty of mariachi love. At times it’s mesmerising, others pedestrian and clichéd, even by their high standards, but when the lads kick into gear, with the aforementioned Zavala unleashing some rather visceral guitar lines, in particular on Man Made Lake the temperature in the room goes up a notch or two. Calexico then walk the tightrope between suave ditties ( Inspiracion, Bend To The Road, House Of Valparaiso ) and the almost, dare I say it, Ricky Martin (cooler, more pedal steel it must be noted) party vibe of El Gatillo (Trigger Revisited).

Writer’s Minor Holiday, another taken from Carried To Dust presents us with modern day Calexico. Atmospheric and quite poptastic with its West Coast styled harmonies, Convertino punches out on the drums to expand upon his usual percussive flow, although the overly ambitious horn breaks let this one down a tad. The band then further showcase their evolvement process with the dub-infused Fractured Air (Tornado Watch) coupled with Two Silver Trees before they shoot back in time to the timeless Crystal Frontier from their 2000 cut, Hot Rail.

It’s always a pleasure to watch a bunch of individually talented musical guns all working for the songs, and engineering something quite special. A real band sound that’s crafted from the hearts, lungs, hands and brains – not from lazy electronic devices. From gypsy jazz through to Latin-noir and Tex-Mex, Paul Niehaus controls the texture with his sublime pedal steel and guitar playing, whilst the horn section of Jacob Valenzuela and Martin Wenk (who went absolutely multi-instrumental) on his accordion, guitar, synthesizers, trumpet, vibes and added percussion), was a joy to watch. With Volker Zander keeping the operation tight on upright and electric bass, Calexico have now added yet another string to the live arsenal with Jairo Zavala shining in his role as guitarist and sometimes vocalist.