King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow

The Opry, the UK’s largest Country & Western club, is a weird setting for this show. With its plaster relief cowboys and cacti not to mention the signs on the doors warning that “No guns are to be worn beyond this point” it’s a relief when KC and JH don’t emerge on stage in Stetsons and chaps.

Coming the night after their narrow defeat at the Mercury Prize, the pair are in philosophical mood. “Last night we were having an argument with PJ Harvey at the Mercurys,” says Kenny Anderson by way of an opener, “she won both.”

The album that was up for the prize, Diamond Mine, represents the high water mark of King Creosote’s prolific career. Working with Jon Hopkins, who he describes as a “musical genius”, seems to have distilled his own talent and brought out some of his very best performances. This concentration is reflected in tonight’s gig. Like PJ Harvey, these collaborators have made an album that sounds like a career high while remaining unaffected by the vagaries of fashion.

Performing ‘Diamond Mine’ from start to finish, Hopkins renders ‘First Watch’ on piano by way of an intro, but stripped of its field recordings it seems austere. Working with Hopkins appears to have made Kenny Anderson more musically disciplined than he would be at a regular King Creosote gig, but he can’t resist throwing in ad libs as a lone audience member gives it what (in the local vernacular) is known as ‘laldy’ at the side of the stage.

The plaintive, yet uplifting ‘John Taylor’s Month Away’ does its best to compete with the interruption and the real King Creosote, master of puns, peeks through. Album highlight Bats In The Attic remains a beautiful song but is rendered more conventional by this strange ambience; Hopkins’ piano an understated yet emotive accompaniment to Anderson voice and acoustic guitar. The slowness and spaciousness of ‘Bubble’ even manages to stun laldy-man into silence. “Proper Friday night stuff this eh?” KC remarks.

His run of vocal top form is showcased by impressive high notes in ‘Your Own Spell’ and all too soon they’ve played the whole album. Relieved of the pressure of critical expectation the room relaxes a degree and joined by Fence regular Captain Geeko on African drum, we’re treated to a run of King Creosote “hits”: ‘Not One Bit Ashamed’, ‘Homeboy’, ‘Missionary’ and some more banter. Changing the lyrics yet again to deal with the ongoing interruption, KC notes, “I’ve created a Super Fan!”

Asked for a show of hands, most of those assembled agree that they should have won last night’s award. As laldy-man is ejected KC offers to start again and play it again, only faster, cue a burst of John Taylor… at chipmunk speed. With Hopkins joining in with saloon bar piano, it seems as if the wild west theme isn’t quite so inappropriate after all.