Live At Whelan's, Dublin

According to many, the best thing to come out of Canada since Neil Young, Edwards is the complete artist – a great songwriter with a distinctive, slightly ragged voice, a damn good guitar-player and she looks very cool onstage. One thing is certain – she’s unlikely to be appearing at venues this intimate for much longer. With a crack band that included collaborator Jim Bryson on keyboards, she launched into tracks from her recent album Back To Me and the (arguably) stronger debut, Failer. Highlights were too many to mention but included the sublime ‘Hockey Skates’, the jangly rush of ‘Six O’Clock News’ and ‘In State’ – the Tom Petty-ish opener from Back To Me. Like Young she can do quiet and loud in equal measure but for the most part her alt.country rock sound is gutsier than on record. Even her between-song banter was hilarious: “I had a really nice post on my message board today,” she related. “This guy said I looked like I might have great tits. If you’re here tonight, I hope you’re not disappointed.”
If he was, he was alone.