A Thomas Truax show is not based solely on musical attraction: it’s a wonderful, eccentric experience, with the instantly lovable Truax unmistakable as the true star of the show, far out-shining the fun, if slightly questionable music. His contagious charisma and good-humour is unmissable and immediate, as he addresses the audience with some fantastically entertaining and baffling lines, introducing his first song as ‘The cannibals have kidnapped Nicole Kidman’. Onstage he’s surrounded by a dizzying array of homemade instruments, from a drum powered by a spinning wheel, to a guitar made out of a television aerial, all of which serve to produce music that is utter pandemonium, but possesses an undeniable charm.

Truax is not for a second troubled by normal stage restraints, and the night sees him running (with his guitar) through the bar, jumping on top of it, and even venturing outside into the street. His music is blissfully ludicrous, with songs about giant butterflies, everything going Halloween and ‘A notice of eviction to a closet full of skeletons’. He seems utterly oblivious to and unflustered by his unconventionality – his delightful eccentricity contains not a shred of pretension.

7/10

Words: Frances Black