Wilco

In certain situations, the public perception of a band can become a bugbear; an albatross around their necks which threatens to overshadow everything they do. This is arguably true in the case of Wilco, who are best known for singer Jeff Tweedy's melancholic tendencies, their intra-band rucks and a general, all-round air of being a fairly miserable bunch.

Tonight, though, they leave their albatross behind and treat us to a set which is positively jubilant. There are none of the pretty-but-maudlin, Elliott Smith-esque melodies which so often colour their recorded work, but plenty of exuberant, country-tinged Americana taken largely from 2002's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and recent release Sky Blue Sky.

Opening with the laughably-titled but still decidedly brilliant 'You Are My Face', they have the air of a band rejuvenated and, with frequent descents into glorious, exultant noise, seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves. Furthermore, they are utterly convincing in their energy and enthusiasm for the new material and, with tracks such as the superb 'Hate It Here', we are whisked a million miles away from 2007, and into a world where Rod Stewart is not yet a complete joke, and cowboy hats are not for fancy dress use only.

There is nothing self-indulgent or wilfully obscure about tonight's set and, in peppering it with the most well-known, sing-along numbers in their repertoire - most notably, 'A Shot In The Arm' and 'War On War' - we get the impression that this is a band genuinely striving to give tonight's audience their money's worth. Those efforts are not in vain, and the crowd, word-perfect and completely spell-bound, respond rapturously. Wilco, for their part, seem not only to have rediscovered a sense of fun (picking up the crowd's collective chanting, and sweeping it seamlessly into Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's 'I'm The Man Who Loves You'), but also have the wide-eyed, appreciative posture of a band playing their first-ever live show.

Closing their set on the beautiful 'On And On And On', we are left in the throes of euphoria, gasping for more of the same, and the band oblige, returning to the stage for not one, but two, encores. In total, they are onstage for well over two hours, and yet at no point do we get bored. Indeed, if there are weak tracks in tonight's set they go unnoticed, veiled by the buoyant atmosphere in La Riviera.

So, if you were one of those left disappointed by Wilco's decision to cancel the UK leg of this tour due to ‘scheduling clashes’, then here, we're sorry to report, is what you would have won.