While having had no new material recorded as Gomez since 2011, Ben Ottewell and Ian Ball are carrying the torch for the band while continuing to record solo and together – most recently with tour support Buddy on their 'Handbags' LP.
In their main set, Ben and Ian lean towards the earlier Gomez albums, commencing with 'Revolutionary Kind' and then 'Here Comes The Breeze', which we are told is the first song the band ever jammed together in the same room.
The description 'jammed' is more than accurate as demonstrated by the range of eclectic styles employed within the song, making it almost seem like a medley.
The performance (19 September) then takes a turn after this first couple of songs as Ben is beset with the first of several technical issues – the first being the tuning pedals don't work with his guitar.
This is only the beginning as then his guitar strap falls off, later he notes there's no towel onstage and later again his capo has gone missing. While Ben goes backstage, Ian starts a cover of 10cc's 'I'm Not In Love' on his own with obligatory audience participation, before Ben returns to play the song out.
Buddy joins the duo for 'Limited Vibes', a song from their recent collaborative LP and afterwards Ben comments: "Slowly it's coming together."
After a joke that they might play Extreme's 'More Than Words', they again revisit the Gomez back-catalogue with a spare, brooding 'We Haven't Turned Around'.
Before the next song, Ben comments: "My favourite – a song Ian wrote about premature ejaculation." "No laughing," adds Ian and they kick off into the almost honkytonk country of 'Failure'.
They take a turn musically when covering Alice In Chains' 'Them Bones', unsurprisingly sounding as it would played by a couple of members of Gomez.
After a frenetic performance of 'In Our Gun', Buddy rejoins the band for 'Clackamas', a vocal triplet during which Ian is playfully bobbing about the stage.
Leading into the next song, Ben comments: "Buddy's going to skank for you," to which Buddy jokingly responds: "You know when you look at me you think reggae," and he proves himself as an able substitute for those absent band members during a successful 'Get Myself Arrested'.
Ben teases that they are going to play something from the '80s, jokingly trying to work out Madonna's 'Borderline' before another cover, Wang Chung's 'Dance Hall Days'.
A standout for the evening is certainly the percussion and bass-heavy dirge of 'Get Miles', which is impenetrable and droning, capped off by Ben's seemingly endless guitar soloing.
'Whippin' Piccadilly' closes the main set, sounding as if maybe they don't really need the rest of the band after all.
There's no great fanfare or spectacle with a single encore, not a favourite held off to end with but a later Gomez song, 'How We Operate'. Ben had already mentioned they will be back again next year.
This was a thoroughly entertaining evening, notwithstanding minor tech issues, and a clear demonstration of the versatility and talent contained within the band Gomez.
