-ret-(2).jpeg?width=1200&auto=webp&crop=3%3A2)
It’s safe to say that, in 1996, when Belle & Sebastian recorded and mixed their debut record Tigermilk in five days and put out a limited run of 1,000 LPs, the band didn’t imagine they’d be celebrating its 30th anniversary playing it in full to 5,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall.
But here we are. Back then the band’s aversion to interviews, photos, and touring created a sense of intrigue around them. It also saw them lumped with the ‘twee’ label. But Stuart Murdoch’s stories of outsiders, dancing and dreaming were so much more than that - these were songs that captured the inner lives of the people who heard it. The softness of the music undercut by the bite in lyrics and the worlds Murdoch created. The mystique of the record quickly spread - it was the sound of a group being realised in real time.
The band, of course, are a less enigmatic proposition in 2026, with Murdoch relishing the role of the showman. The band are introduced with a smile: “Welcome to the first recording session for this new band, Belle & Sebastian,” before they begin with the beguiling, galloping The State I Am In and its tangled family stories and giving himself up to God.
As befits an anniversary show, tales were recounted throughout. He tells us that London has always been “fraught” for the band, with the record label and press here. "We started off playing the Borderline, then Union Chapel.” They pale in comparison to the size of the venue tonight, yet the record’s evocative indie chamber pop feels a perfect fit for the lush, ornate environment we’re in.
Not that it overwhelms the band. During the swirling, tingling synth pop of Electronic Renaissance, Murdoch dances through the crowd. As he returns he says “This place isn’t too big actually, it’s quite intimate.”
As the record draws to a close Murdoch opines that “I was trying to get a band together for years - people would cross the road in Glasgow to avoid me,” before they play My Wandering Days Are Over - a self-mythologising song about starting the group with its ‘My one-man band is over’ line.
And those bandmates make a gleeful racket (the Making of Tigermilk film that plays as the band entered the stage calls it a ‘shambolic magic’, which feels about right).
Then it was over. But, of course, it wasn’t. They returned to play a slew of fan favourites, beginning with Dog On Wheels followed by a raucous Step Into My Office Baby led by Stevie Jackson and ending with Murdoch changing the lyrics to tell Nigel Farage to fuck off.
By the time they get to Another Sunny Day and their ubiquitous, now calling card climax of The Boy WIth the Arab Strap, the stage is a heaving mass of people - members of the crowd, ushered up by Murdoch, dancing along.
There was even time for a second encore, the band asking the crowd for any requests. Murdoch teases the first few lines of Put the Book Back on the Shelf before there was an outing for the beloved Lazy Line Painter Jane and its evocative swirling crescendo.
As The Blues Are Still Blue closed the show, Murdoch finished the song at the back of the venue amongst the dancing crowd. It’s a fitting ending to a joyous evening - the night a reminder of what a spellbinding force Belle & Sebastian have become over the last three decades.
