Review: The Divine Comedy at Cambridge Corn Exchange

Purveyor of whimsically sublime, old-fashioned-sounding music The Divine Comedy – aka Neil Hannon – was back at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Wednesday, 15 October, for the first time since 2022.

Unsurprisingly, his latest album, the really rather good Rainy Sunday Afternoon (released in September), made up the bulk of the set - although that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Support came from subdued but melodically-gifted Studio Electrophonique. This unassuming three-piece provided the kind of laidback, not-too-in-your-face vibe that should go down well with fans of The Divine Comedy - and it did.

Neil and his six-piece band came out to a very enthusiastic welcome from what certainly looked to be a sold-out crowd and immediately launched into the mournfully atmospheric Achilles, the first single to be released from Rainy Sunday Afternoon.

It’s an impressive and well-written song, as was the next tune – the heartbreaking The Last Time I Saw the Old Man, written about Neil’s father who sadly passed away in 2022 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s.

“Hello Cambridge,” said the charmingly reserved Neil afterwards, addressing the audience for the first time, “here’s another song.”

The band then played the darkly melodic When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe, a track from 1994 – reminding us just how long the still young-looking Neil has been doing this.

One of my favourite songs off the new album, the title track, came next and it was wonderful, sounding just as good as it does on the record.

The truly touching slice-of-everyday-life that is Norman and Norma was another highlight, and is perhaps one of Neil’s finest ever tunes.

The singer sounded in excellent voice throughout and when he spoke to the appreciate crowd, he did so with a light-hearted and playful wit.

“That song was called The Man Who Turned into a Chair,” he said after performing track three off Rainy Sunday Afternoon, and then, in a change of pace, he encouraged the audience to “stop being English” and to get up and dance.

Many people did just that during the more upbeat At the Indie Disco and Neapolitan Girl, with varying levels of energy and commitment.

“Time for a drink,” said Neil, and a drinks trolley was promptly wheeled out while the band played ‘kitsch’ background music.

One by one, he asked each member of the band what they’d like to drink and then prepared their drinks for them.

Meanwhile, the background muzak indicated what was coming – the wistful Mar-A-Lago By the Sea, another of my favourites from the new album, which was described in the press release for the new album as sounding like “the house band in a Florida resort”. It was a pleasure to hear it done live.

More dance-worthy moments came in the form of Generation Sex and Something for the Weekend, with Neil joking that even his faster songs have slower moments in them.

The last song of the main set was National Express, which remains probably The Divine Comedy’s best-known song – and it was the ideal way to close the proceedings.

People danced and sang along, and it was lovely to see.

Unfortunately, the three-song encore, consisting of In Pursuit of Happiness, Invisible Thread and Tonight We Fly, was a bit disappointing, and personally I would have preferred to hear Everybody Knows (Except You) and Gin Soaked Boy.

But that’s a fairly minor complaint in the grand scheme of things and it certainly didn’t detract from what was, overall, a splendid evening of music.