He may look a bit like Jesus, but Dave McCabe and The Zutons were definitely lacking a bit of divine inspiration as they played to a half-full Solent Hall at the BIC.

It was a strange gig, as you couldn’t fault the band’s enthusiasm, Dave’s vocals or Abi’s Sax and the band were a tight and well-oiled unit that played all their big hits, but something was definitely missing Maybe it’s a sign of the times when a big-name band like The Zutons are struggling to sell out one of the BIC’s smaller venues. The sparsely populated arena gave the feeling of a tribute band playing in a school assembly hall at times. Their signature tune, Valerie, was lost somewhere in the middle of the set along with other well known songs, Pressure Point, Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love and Always Right Behind You.

Dave McCabe threw in a couple of acoustic numbers in the middle of the set, which while very pleasant on the ears, did break up any sort of flow or momentum the band had been building with some of their more upbeat hits prior.

The highlight of the night was probably the encore of You Will You Won’t. It was the fast-paced, in-your-face, sing-a-long, clap-along song that the night had been missing, or should have been building up to. If we’d left then I’d have been slightly disappointed with the night but with a positive final memory.

But, the band then spent a five minutes doing some experimental jamming that never went anywhere as most of the remaining audience, looked on bemused.