Dalliance Gig of 2008 – And I think that I know the bitter dismay of a lover who brought fresh bouquets every day…

  1. Okkervil River at Manchester Academy 3
    There is silence as Sheff's softly intones the end of A Stone pausing, hanging, leaving the breathless watching a man who's heart has broken on stage.
  2. Jens Lekman at Newcastle cluny
    Lekman leads and the Newcastle audience follow in impromptu singalong version of Pocketful of Money backing him, supporting him, celebrating him, celebrating us all. "Not for YouTube" he tells us, "This was between us here tonight".
  3. Magnetic Fields at New York Town Hall
    Note imperfect Merritt follows up Simms at the conclusion of Popa Was A Rodeo with depths of heartfelt sorrow stripping away layers of irony and smarts to a truth that underpins The Magnetic Fields.
  4. The Voluntary Butler Scheme - at Halifax Doghouse
    The end has come for the debut three-piece but the audience blockade the stage demanding that the excitement, the entertainment, the fun carries on.
  5. Morrissey at Sunderland Empire
    A few songs in and Steven departs the stage in a flounce returned coxed out by the slow cat calls of the intro to Death of a Disco Dancer. The show man buts on a show.
  6. Laura Groves - Upstairs at The Cockpit in Leeds
    Bradford's finest songstress and Ms Blue Roses emotes to a heaving, packed Cockpit Upstairs through a powerful Can't Sleep that silences the room.
  7. My First Tooth - The Love Apple, Bradford
    A scruffy man on guitar and a young lass with braces on fiddle sail above expectations with an instantly memorable Sleet and Snow burning the retina of the mind's eye.
  8. Dinosaur Pile Up - The Love Apple, Bradford
    One of those nights at the Love Apple is blow open by the fuzzed up, Albini stylings of the Pile-Up stomping through I Get My Direction.
  9. Eamon Hamilton - The Faversham, Leeds
    "This song is about Dick Cheney" says Eamon before seven seconds or angry acoustic spike of Cheney.
  10. Art Brut - St George's Hall, Bradford
    Eddie asks "Are you ready Art Brut?" before Rusted Guns of Milan shows too much of his soul.
    • The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
    • If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian
    • Love and Its Opposite by Tracey Thorn
    • Loveless Unbeliever by The School
    • Realism by The Magnetic Fields
    • Clinging to a Scheme by The Radio Dept.
    • Weathervanes by Freelance Whales
    • Night Falls Over Kortedala by Jens Lekman
    • Crazy For You by Best Coast
    • Whip-Smart by Liz Phair
    • When I Said I Wanted to Be Your Dog by Jens Lekman
    • Whitechocolatespaceegg by Liz Phair
    • Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
    • Champ by Tokyo Police Club
    • His 'N' Hers by Pulp
    • Oh You're So Silent Jens by Jens Lekman
    • It's Blitz! by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    • A Certain Trigger by Maxïmo Park
    • Wolves and Thieves by Goldheart Assembly
    • Clinging to a Scheme by The Radio Dept.
    • Blue Roses by Blue Roses
    • Lesser Matters by The Radio Dept.
    • Our Earthly Pleasures by Maxïmo Park
    • Yeah So by Slow Club
    • Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
    • Showtunes by Stephin Merritt
    • The Stage Names by Okkervil River
    • If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle and Sebastian
    • Little Death by Pete and The Pirates
    • 69 Love Songs (disc 1) by The Magnetic Fields
    • Savage Garden by Savage Garden
    • Bande a Part by Nouvelle Vague
    • Eyes Open by Snow Patrol
    • Voices of Animals and Men by The Young Knives