- After an exceptionally long Friday I very nearly crawled in, in a rumpled suit, to the dark haven that is The Beatle Bar. I had every intention of hiding behind a beer, perched high up near the rafters on that murky upper level of theirs and I quickly made it so.

I was only one of many, huddled on our bar-stools and peering down like a bunch of beaky ravens on Kellie Lloyd who got quite the shock when she realised we were up there. In keeping with the spirit of the evening, Kellie went solo too, which I'm not convinced was the greatest idea. Her last solo record - which I quite liked - was very much backed up by a band, doing her 90s rock thing. When it's just her playing a fuzzy guitar you can hear the bits where the bass and drums were supposed to be and feel the lack.

Oh well, a Cooper's Pale later (I should be sponsored by them) and Ben & Mike both took the stage together. I was totally not expecting that. They kept taking the piss out of their 'new format', so I'm guessing this hasn't been going on for very long, but it works a treat! They take turns playing a song of Mike's then a song of Ben's and backing each other up, with copious, blackly funny banter in between. They're both such gifted guitar-strummers / singers / blues-harp blowers that, even when they appeared not to know each other's material as well as they might, it still sounded sweet.

That material included (obviously) songs from both of their solo records and often ran quite a lot like Ben's recent live album, featuring also songs from The Gin Club (as well as a couple of their members later on), though not The Drones, and some sweet covers, including a great rendition of Springsteen's Atlantic City and a now seemingly obligatory rendition of Sam Cooke's Tracks Of My Tears (thankyou to Chris Yates for pointing out my erroneous attribution and representing the interests Mr. Smokey Robinson in this matter). Appropriately Noga starts to sound a bit like The Boss when his throat gets tired and Salter, though his voice is rougher every time I hear him, gains what little he loses in sweetness back in range and power, just soaring up to high Cs and beyond.

Texas Tea's Kate Jacobson came up for a couple of numbers including an endearingly goofy rendition of Islands In The Stream along with those aforementioned Gin Club kids, but Ben Salter and Mike Noga were the charismatic stars of the evening by a very long way. A lot of people have suggested that The Drones are the best band in Australia, the fact that they've so enthusiastically embraced Ben Salter confirms my feeling that he is along with Mike and Gareth Liddiard, one of the best songwriters. This was a brilliant effort, which I'd hear again, note for note.

- Chris Cobcroft.

PS Hanging out with Mike seems to have made Ben a lot happier than he's been, which is great. My only quibble is that when he's happy he doesn't play his really sad songs like The Cat or The Coward (which are among his best). What can I say, rock'n'roll and mental health are not the best of friends ;)