"This is from my latest record," David Kitt says, slightly glumly. "Not that many people have bought it, I have to say." A murmur of sympathy ripples through the room. In his native Ireland, Kitt is a household name but his popularity has yet to traverse the Irish Sea - even if, judging from the accents in the venue tonight, a few of his fans have. Later, he mentions with a sigh the gig's last-minute relocation from the larger Electric Ballroom across the road: "We just weren't famous enough... We got too big for our boots."

However, the intimate setting suits Kitt's tousled, offhand charm. All Night Long ("Apologies to anyone expecting a Lionel Richie cover version") must be the first love song inspired by Ireland's smoking ban. "Thank God I couldn't smoke inside," croons Kitt. "I asked a stranger for a light." His waiflike acoustic rendition of Thin Lizzy's Dancing in the Moonlight, taken from that new covers album that not many people have bought, has at least one tipsy couple swaying dreamily.

So far, so singer-songwriter, but then, as if suddenly seized by a mortal fear of being pigeonholed, Kitt and his band start lurching this way and that. One song culminates in a storm of reverb; another bounces along on a rubbery dance beat only inches away from house music. Best of all is the set-closer, Headphones, during which the band lock into a relentless trance-rock groove. People in the front rows bang their heads, sweat flying. Kitt's big, boxer's face flushes with exhilaration. It's an unexpected but riveting highlight that makes his more conventional songs sound humdrum. It's also the first time he sounds too big for the room he's in.