Bat for Lashes play note perfect

Bristol University's Anson Rooms proved a sweaty and claustrophobic venue for Natasha Khan and her band (a girl behind me was rude enough to faint half way through!).

The gig - well there aren't enough superlatives to describe the haunting sound of Bat For Lashes. A truly spectacular vocal performance from Ms Khan along with a lesson in how to play every unconventional instrument out there.

So all-in-all a perfect performance from BFL - sound was great, as was lighting and the stage was designed and set up almost ready for a photo-shoot.

Then why did I leave feeling a bit let down...? When I go see a live gig I like to be entertained by the live band. And whilst BFL played perfectly, there was no sense that they were playing live. Don't get me wrong - this was a live performance and they did play live, however the gig was missing some rawness (even a mistake) that would make you think 'you had to be there' to experience this. I'm sure every other show on their tour is identical this one.

The best live gigs are when the band relates to their audience - I'm sure everyone there wouldn't have cared if it wasn't note perfect - they want to be entertained and to feel that this show was a one-off.

Almost everyone one of us has a plethora of music channels in our living room to watch the highly polished outputs from pop's newest stars. A live gig should be a way to escape this.

However whilst excellently performed, this show was like watching BFL in another music video on another music channel.