“I’ve wanted to play this venue for so long. It took us a long time to get here,” frontman Stuart Staples tells the Vicar St. crowd at the start of what turns out to be a genuine Gig of the Year contender. Serving up a masterful mix of sounds (from the melodica to the xylophone), about half of the set comes from 2008’s The Hungry Saw, but there’s still enough vintage orchestral mourn-pop to keep hardcore fans happy – a particular highlight being ‘Her’ from the band’s self-titled 1993 debut.
As a softcore Tindersticks follower, I could have done with more playful instrumentals like ‘The Organist Entertains’, which provides a welcome interlude at the three-song mark. Still, they come on strong with rapturous readings of crowd faves ‘Say Goodbye To The City’ and ‘Come Feel The Sun’ that make you wonder how they’ve never cracked the top 20.
It’s nice to know that 16 years since they first played together, Tindersticks are still making sounds so sweet that Stuart Staples can’t help but grin through his own melancholy lyrics. Misery never sounded so good.