The Smyths, True Order and Billy Blagg at the Electric Ballroom

Many people scoff at the idea of tribute acts. Mostly, I suspect, people who have never seen one. I was one. Once. Now I don't hesitate.

Obviously, like anything else in life, you can come across bad ones. But if you know what you are doing, these can be among the best nights out you can get.

So whenever I have seen the Smyths lately they have been supported by Billy Blagg. This guy  has a better voice than Billy Bragg, although frankly that is not much of a challenge. And although he tried to freshen the act with some anti-Trump stuff much of the interest in this act is how tired all those old left wing politics are. Desperately seeking injustices in centuries gone by because now we see trade unions more in the light of picketing primary schools or vastly overpaid tube drivers holding the general public to ransom with endless strikes as they simply don't need their full pay. 

My young friends Luka and Anna missed Billy, but they had seen him in Bristol earlier in the year so we could compare notes.

What I hadn't seen before was True Order. A very good New Order tribute act. Again their lead vocalist is better than Bernard Sumner (again not difficult in truth), but they played their set with great aplomb and authenticity, building up to Blue Monday and World in Motion (missing a Jamaican winger for the wrapping part, but hey ho...)

This was an hour's set which they said was scaled down from their normal two hour set. I would love to see the full version. 

Honestly I would have gone home happy if I had just seen True Order. But there was still the Smyths to come. I can't say exactly why, but they seem to get just marginally better every time I see them. 

Like Luka and Anna, this was the second time I had seen them this year, but this was a bigger and better venue. The atmosphere has a lot of impact. About 600 people crammed into the Electric Ballroom, big enough to feel, well, electric, but small enough to be intimate too (we were right at the front).

It was lovely to see Luka bellowing along to all the songs, and indeed most of the other young people there. All just very evidently loving every minute. You could pretty much say that half the audience was over 55 like me, and the other half under 25. And everyone is singing along to every word. Graham Sampson has a better voice than Morrissey, (especially listen to him on It's Over) although a little deeper register, better personality, better stage presence, sense of humour. And the Smyths have been doing this for so long that they really "own" the songs. This isn't just copying the originals; they rearrange them, turning, for example, How Soon is Now into a dance number for closing. 

Just superb, and you can see a buzzing crowd at exit of youngsters like my companions, and pensioners, all happily turning out into the streets. (Our happiness slightly dampened by MacDonalds being closed. It was an early start and we were hungry!)