Aerosmith this isn't. With Belle and Sebastian playing the first of three sold-out hometown shows, you might expect a little bravado; there is none. No one is here to see a rock'n'roll show, although the band do rock a little, particularly in the rollicking solos of The Loneliness of the Middle Distance Runner. Mostly, Belle and Sebastian are as tentative as ever.
What they have always done exquisitely well - as in the new song Dress Up in You, a kind of narcotised Daydream Believer - is evoke, with a deliciously tart melancholy, late afternoon light and yellowed paperbacks. What they are getting better and better at, however, is pop music: proper pop songs that could all be singles, and that, on record, are the most full-blooded and muscular music the band has recorded.
Live, those songs feel a little washed out. As yet, only White Collar Boy - a cheeky Glitter Band romp or, for those with shorter memories, a cheeky Goldfrapp romp - and Sukie in the Graveyard, riding a deliriously bubbling Farfisa organ riff, successfully make the transition from the new record, The Life Pursuit.
This could simply be due to bad sound. But perhaps there is a subtler project at work. Perhaps they're playing more quietly to make us listen more attentively. And at their quietest, Belle and Sebastian are spellbinding: the a cappella opening of Stars of Track and Field, the deathlessly beautiful Fox in the Snow. Strings and trumpet recall the lush swoops of Love's Forever Changes, wry and dewy-eyed where Love's work is dystopian and vituperative.
Singer and guitarist Stuart Murdoch, reading lyrics from the gatefold vinyl of the new album, fluffs a couple of songs and sometimes seems an enervated presence. Quite possibly the rigorous regime of a tour will pump up those songs that still dither cultishly. Murdoch has a gorgeous way with a melody, and knows exactly which heartstrings to pull. Belle and Sebastian are capable of strong magic; it's a pleasure even to watch them dip in and out of greatness.
· At the ABC, Glasgow (0870 903 3444), tonight, then touring.
