Our more keen-eyed readers will already have deduced that I didn't bring my feeble camera to Wednesday's gig.

Whelan's, October 27th 2010

"You're probably the nicest guy in the world... and I'm making you my punchline."

When last we saw Mr Greg Dulli (formerly of stupendous early-90s alt-rock underdogs The Afghan Whigs, latterly of ever-expanding ensemble The Twilight Singers, and the Lanegan-featuring side project The Gutter Twins) in January of last year, he was sourly leaving the stage in the Ambassador after a shortened encore, having been riled past his breaking point by audience chatter and impolite photography. (He had, of course, earlier threatened to douse some unduly noisy females with his water bottle if they continued to babble during the set.) That Dulli was not present on Wednesday night.

In his place was a smiley cheery Greg Dulli, full of enthusiasm and wit. Flanking him for this acoustic show were fellow Twilight Singer and Gutter Twin Dave Rosser on guitar and Polyphonic Spree multi-instrumentalist (and not, as you might mistakenly assume, 1950s country sensation) Rick Nelson on violin and cello (though not at the same time, because that would be bad for his posture.) This was the Greg Dulli that quickly improvises a verse or two of The Pogue's Pair of Brown Eyes when an audient shoutingly requests an Irish song, and warns the aforementioned punchline not to steal his wallet, because "I know how you Micks are."

Despite being somewhat tardy in taking the stage (excellent supporting troubador Ed Harcourt left the stage around 9pm, and the resplendent headliners didn't get started until after 9.30) it's hard to argue with the show Dulli and company put on. And not just because a show is incapable of arguing back.

Greg Dulli - a shady character. Arf.

Over the course of the two hour show, Dulli made a good case for being the most charismatic and consistent frontman of the last two decades, stretching from his early Afghan Whigs material (a stunning "Let Me Lie To You", bolstered by some sterling soloing from Rosser) all the way through to three songs from the new Twilight Singers record (due out Spring 2011, mark your calendars or set a reminder on your iPhones or J-Cloths or K-Links or whatever). Despite technical setbacks - ie, a broken guitar string, relacement of which gave Dulli time to take to the keyboard for a stunning take on "The Killer" - the trio still managed to fit in a surprising amount of material, and tangents. (He anecdotally explained his take on judicious audience participation by recounting his experience at a D'Angelo concert where he learned how much he cared about throwing, and subsequently waving, his hands in the air.)

The inevitable encore - which, incidentally, caused me to miss the last bus home, forcing me to taxi home, making this the second most expensive gig I've attended this year, thankyouverymuch - was memorable for the closing brace of songs. An explosive "Teenage Wristband" had its nod to The Who made even more explicit with a snatch of lyrics from "Pinball Wizard" thrown in, before blending seamlessly with the closer, "The Twilite Kid". (Excellently, during the solo section of "Wristband", Rosser effortlessly recreated the piano part from the full band version of the song on his electro-acoustic, which I'll admit, ashen-faced, elicited a slight squeee from your humble author.)

And then, in a complete turn-around to his departure from the Ambassador, Dulli left Whelan's in triumph. Meanwhile, I left in a flat run for the bus stop, which was alas too far away for my pathetic legs to carry me in the five minutes I had to catch the bus.

Have the Rolling Stones killed.

Al Byrne