Paul Brady

Once again, Paul Brady has come back from a few concerned years and delivered the goods. Another new record deal (with Rykodisc) means at least another few albums before the end of the decade and further shows wherein Brady will prove once more that he's the best mature Irish songwriter we've got. If that sounds prophetic or predictable it's only because his sterling track record makes it so.

Curiously quiet for most of his Monday evening show (the first of six nights at the venue), as the gig continued so the sweat on his shirt became more obvious, his demeanour less serious. Old songs blended into new. Nothing But The Same Old Story still retained a salty bitterness that history may or may not erase, Crazy Dreams was still battered out regardless of weak guitar strings. The Island was still poignant, Nobody Knows still resonant.

If Brady had sung just these and a few more well known songs it would still have been a solid, respectable gig. But he's always been one for standing on shifting sand, so he didn't. Songs from his new album, Oh What A World, were just as good, just as immediate: the title track, I Believe In Magic, The Long Goodbye, Minutes Away, Miles Apart. Each one was assured AOR, delivered by consummate professionals with a feel for nuance and emotion.

So - no pyrotechnics, no light shows, no biting the heads off chickens while dressed in leather thongs. Just a fine bunch of songs and Paul Brady. Put them together and what have you got? A class act, that's what.

Paul Brady plays the Olympia theatre tonight, and Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Tickets from usual outlets