Martha Wainwright LIVE

No Pizza Express this time (you can't have Pizza two nights in a row can you? - well, not that I had pizza the night before, but you get my drift) but a nice little Mexican Steak house instead.

Which was all going perfectly until the Ice Cream...when a chill to kill all chills came over me and seriously left me below-par. Anyway, you don't want to hear about my illness do you?

We got to the Lowry in time for the announcement that the support act was about to start. As it was female, and teasely, we decided to mosey on in. Her name was Catherine Feeney and she was quite good. Of course it's difficult to form a definative opinion of an act you've never heard of when they perform such a pared down set as Feeney did, but I enjoyed it and have since enjoyed listening to the full version of some of the songs on her myspace page. One to look out for.

Indeed, I would have gone over to her during the interval but by then I was feeling seriously ill and thought it best not to go over and be sick on her or something.

So then it was onto Martha. And Martha, well she's just Martha. Within seconds she had the audience in stitches, "this wasn't supposed to be some kind of fucking comedy show", but much like Nerina Pallot in the same venue the night before the funny and witty banter would have meant nothing without the songs, which were as excellent as ever.

Most of the "Martha Wainwright" album was done as well as some brand new tracks, all of which whetted the appetite for her upcoming follow up. There was also a special guest appearance by Thea Gilmore for a couple of tracks, which was a nice surprise.

Whilst seemingly acknowledging herself that she's not for everyone ("I can see why I get a 'reputation'") in a way that makes her all the more special. In a world where artistic "integrity" is seemingly lost in the rush to sell a million records, its refreshing to see a female artist completly willing to do things her own way. And on the evidence of tonight's show, long may she continue to do so.