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Hits miss out, but still a good night

Belle and Sebastian in full flight.

Scottish national treasures Belle and Sebastian like varying their set lists night-to-night. And Perth got an oddball selection of deep cuts, fan favourites and the occasional single on a flawed but joyous Tuesday evening.

While it is unfair to judge Belle and Sebastian on what they left out, classics including Lazy Line Painter Jane, I’m a Cuckoo, Seeing Other People, The State I Am In and String Bean Jean were missed, just a few of the countless omissions from a band whose greatest-hits collection needs a box set.

Women’s Realm and the excellent Piazza, New York Catcher seemed designed to single out true fans and perhaps that was Stuart Murdoch and Co’s intention.

But combined with a quieter-than-usual Astor sound and rowdy expat crowd, the set was uneven and tracks such as If She Wants Me and Simple Things got lost in the mix.

Opening with the Everlasting Muse from the new album, Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance, Another Sunny Day followed and segued effortlessly in the night’s first mass singalong for Funny Little Frog, both tracks coming from the band’s excellent 2006 (studio album, The Life Pursuit.

A Century of Fakers was wonderful and, along with Jonathan David, represented the essential 2005 compendium, Push Barman to Open Old Wounds. It would have been nice to hear more from this one.

Likewise, the band’s best album If You’re Feeling Sinister delivered only the title track, although the 1996 classic was a spine tingler as the crowd sang: “He’ll try in vain to take away the pain of being a hopeless unbeliever!”

Guitarist Stevie Jackson took the microphone for Perfect Couples and Sarah Martin sang the Power of Three. Those, and recent single the Party Line, represented the new album well and, given the successful disco stomp of the latter, it was a wonder more of the synth-pop numbers weren’t played.

The Boy with the Arab Strap was unstoppable as fans stormed the stage, a moment that turned up the joy factor considerably, Jackson even pausing to wish a happy 63rd birthday to a lucky local.

Sleep the Clock Around closed the set and was the best-sounding track of the night, the 13-piece band, including strings from the Perth Symphony Orchestra, in full effect.

Unfortunately the encore, featuring only Expectations from 1996 debut Tigermilk, was a little underwhelming and summed up the night in a sense: just as things got going, the moment passed.

Melbourne jangle-pop four-piece Twerps proved the perfect choice to open. The male-female voice combination is reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian, and Martin Frawley’s I Don’t Mind and Julia McFarlane’s Shoulders were stand-outs for a group who are on a high after being the first Australian act signed to Merge Records.