Luke Haines @ Queen Elizabeth Hall 13/7/11

These "literary" dos are always good value - first up we get a 45 minute set of Haine's 3 piece band. Though somewhat muddy for us, being in front row, far end well below the PA and in front of the bass woofer. After an interval we get two men in armchairs - "History Today" style. The interviewer is an ingratiating Scot who has his nose so far up Haine's arse its hard to even hear the questions. But this could have gone on all night for us - Haines with his views about "The Hit", The Killers, Cooking and Black Sabbath's Sabotage. Even the audience questions could go on. One Norwegian guy starts with a long ramble but gets cut short after announcing "there were only three great songwriters in the 90's... 1) Stephin Merritt, 2).... ". We can assume Haines was one of the missing two - but who was the third?!!

"Shall I play some more?" Haines quips - clearly bored of the idiotic final questions - "What's your favourite word?" !! FFS! He gets up and rattles out a few solo acoustics, before back with the band for a few more. The evening is the best part of 3 hours long and there's never a dull moment. Must buy that new book of his... (4/5)

Luke Haines @ Borderline 1 October 2009

What a card he is. Playing to an army of fans - some well the worse for wear. If you've never seen him - expect some witty banter set to vibrato guitar playing. Always worth checking him out. Short review as I'm well backlogged. (4/5)

Tickets for Luke Haines are available at www.gigsniffer.com