Wow. What a night. I don’t quite know where to begin… so I’m going to go for the start.

We arrived at The Octagon a bit after 8pm, about half way through support band Brakes’ set. They’re pretty darn cool. Lots of short and sharp punky song but also so nice melodic numbers.

They finished, and we began the wait for Belle and Sebastian while roadies and such set up the stage. You’d be forgiven for thinking that we were about to watch an orchestra; although there are seven members of Belle and Sebastian, there were more instruments on stage than it is physically possible for them to play at once! Four keyboards, a piano, five violins, about five guitars, a trumpet to name but a few. When they came on, the crowd erupted with cheers and they began with The Apostle Part 1 and The Apostle Part 2, from their new album, The Life Pursuit.

We had managed to grab ourselves a spot right at the front, on the right-hand side, and were treated to a superb view all night. It wasn’t the sort of gig which involved lots of bouncing around, but instead was rather sedate and relaxed, which was rather nice, to be honest. As Belle and Sebastian warmed up, running through a number of tracks from The Life Pursuit, from Another Sunny Day, Sukie In The Graveyard and To Be Myself Completely the crowd also got more and more into it.

Singer Stuart Murdoch developed a brilliant rapport with the crowd, treating us to lots of banter and was able to laugh along when he sang a wrong line and couldn’t quite hold a note due to a sore throat. His voice is a beautiful live as it is on CD, it flows effortlessly from his mouth, like liquid gold. After what seemed to me to be an uncomfortable start, with Murdoch putting his hands in his pockets in the way you do when you don’t know what else to do with them, he was comfortable in no time, dancing around and loving it.

With a variety of instrument swaps around the stage, the gig was in full flow they lead onto play Funny Little Frog, the first single from the new album, and everyone was clearly satisfied. Many requests were bellowed from the crowd, and it was clear many of the spectators were certainly old-school fans, asking for songs from earlier albums such as If You’re Feeling Sinister, Tigermilk and Boy With The Arab Strap.

Murdoch braved going into the crowd for one song, much to everyone in the surrounding space’s delight. After that, he commented on the fact there appeared to be too many men, so asked them to sit down, and so they obliged. To be honest, there appeared to be about a 50/50 split, but we didn’t care, as they dedicated Women’s Realm to all us ladies still standing.

I’m A Cuckoo went down a storm, and by that point I knew Belle and Sebastian were definitely my new favourite band. Knowing I had to write this review, I would hurriedly note down songs they had played, and on my bit of paper there seem to be about twenty, with most songs from The Life Pursuit and of course a variety from previous albums.

It all seemed to be over far too quickly as they disappeared off stage, even though we knew they’d be back for and encore. And so they were – three more songs, ending the night with Me And The Major. None of us wanted it to end, as after what I think was nearly two hours of entertainment, we all agreed that it had been truly wonderful.

I can categorically say this was without a doubt it was one of the best gigs I have been to for some time, if not up there as the best. I’m listening to The Life Pursuit again as I write this, and I’m getting that feeling of immense happiness you get when you’ve seen the songs performed – that feeling that the songs sound so much more special and perfect.

I cannot quite put into words how glad I am I was able to go to this gig. It was everything you could want and more; they were there to entertain us, and they certainly knew how to. Murdoch is a fantastic frontman, full of charisma, and guitarist Stevie, who although tries to maintain a frosty outer shell, is just as confident and engaging. Even if you’re not completely familiar with all of their music, I have to recommend Belle and Sebastian as a must see group.