In the words of fellow welsh musician and friend Cate le Bon, “Sweet Baboo a.ka. Stephen Black a.k.a the most androgynous woman since Moe Tucker”, kicked off his tour in Leeds following the release of his sixth studio album Wild Imagination.

The majority of the set was jokingly done “in the style of Thin Lizzy”, as Sweet Baboo played songs from his new album, mixed with crowd favourites such as ‘Bounce’ and ‘Lets go Swimming Wild’. However, it was the odd anecdote and onstage banter amongst the occasional technical difficulty that proved a highlight of the show. Before performing ‘Walking in the Rain’ Sweet Baboo explained how he wanted to record a song that would rival the likes of Travis’ ‘Why does it always Rain on Me’ and Rhianna’s ‘Umbrella’, in the hope that the BBC would use it to present the weather and make the band a lot of money.

Towards the end of the set, Sweet Baboo performed ‘Lost Out on the Floor’, claiming that the song came about in the quest to write a number one hit single and an incredible disco tune. Despite the onstage banter, Sweet Baboo certainly doesn’t come across as an arrogant stage presence, rather as incredibly humble and down to earth. The opening of ‘If I died’ merely confirms Sweet Baboo’s modesty as he sang to the audience “Daniel Johnston has hundreds of great tunes/ and I’ve got six so I guess there’s some catching up to do.”

Following the encore Sweet Baboo finished the show with the ethereal ‘Clear Blue Skies’ from Wild Imagination, aided with a very technical piece of duct tape holding down the note on the key board. This seemed a fitting end to a brilliant gig. Sweet Baboo needs to be seen live so be sure not to miss the rest of the UK tour for a gig guaranteed to be both amazing and hilarious.

Phoebe Berman