You don't get up to much. And nothing comes of it. And nothing ever gets you down.

Friday 24 June – now we almost never watch a band on consecutive occasions, but there’s a first time for everything as we find ourselves headed to The Golden Lion in York to watch Dream Of Apollo. I think I’ve only been in this place once before and it certainly didn’t strike me as the best place for listening to live music, but what do I know? There was a square-ish area towards the back where a band could play, a bar down one side and the rest of the floor space was taken up with pews, tables and stools. There was no natural area in which we could stand to listen to the band so we started off as far away as it was possible to get but directly in front, hoping to get the best from the speakers.

It was a miserable night, middle of an English summer, with a chill wind blowing through open window, and later pouring down with rain. The set kicked off with Vicki doing a solo spot of three songs; Mine, For My Lover (Tracy Chapman), and Boats And Birds (Gregory And The Hawk). Don’t be fooled by my encyclopaedic knowledge of the set-list, I snapped it on my ‘phone at the end of the gig. By this time we were frozen and had moved up into the central body of the pub. It has to be said that the acoustics weren’t great and the majority of the punters were desperately talking louder to make their conversations heard of the noise of the band, or watching the tennis on one of the screens dotted around the place.

The full band started their set with Anatole, a song very much in the style of The Decemberists with powerful, story-telling lyrics. I remembered this one from the first time we saw the band and thoroughly enjoyed it. Whilst they do throw in the odd cover, most of the material they play is original and absolutely excellent. The set continued with Sanctuary, Someday, In A Manner of Speaking (Depeche Mode), Leander, Home (when Andy Murray won his match and a huge cheer went up), Jolene (Dolly Parton), and the epic Free with which they closed the first half.

During the interval band-friend Marteen took to the stage and gave us another three songs in which I detected Radiohead’s High And Dry.

For the second half we had managed to move a little closer still and had an unimpeded view of the stage. The sound quality was also much better closer to the band, who played; Regrets Of The Devil, Children, Hold Me, Too Lost, Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash), and my personal favourite, Sandman.

I was half expecting an encore, well one does these days, but the rest of the audience didn’t seem bothered so it never happened. The venue did the band no favours. They are good, stonkingly good. Vicki’s voice is great and the rest of the band are enthusiastic and technically excellent. Best of all, they really seem to enjoy themselves. They undertake a mini-tour in July, full details on MyFace, ending up at Fibbers on 10 July which sadly I will miss as that’s the day after I get married. They pop up again in August at the Galtres Festival at Crayke, but I’m sure we’ll catch them again before then. Very highly recommended.