The opening lyrical refrain of Amazing Grace is transposed onto kooky, brooding balladry before Hole ups the ante, his subject matter becoming overtly sexualised to the point of the salacious. Wholly engrossing the Royal Albert Hall is no mean feat, and to witness one man in a particularly woolly blazer stood behind a fairly rudimentary electronic piano do just that, alone, is tonight quite startling. There's no veil of pretence to cower behind, and yet Hole is a bona fide maestro of the crescendo; he's not all that poetic a versifier ("Hummus would be nice / With cherry tomatoes" isn't the most stimulating line you'll hear all year), yet we're caught clinging onto his every rose thorn-like word. Indeed with his sound stripped of sample and string, the message contained within the likes of Virtue and Tori Tour (written following a still-fresh break-up, inevitably about heading out on the road with Amos) is conveyed with the utmost clarity, his (largely brokenhearted) implications expressed in a way that starkly promotes their emotivity. Similarly, synopses are offered in every between-song interim, periods in which his flamboyant, eccentric, and plainly dramatic personality unfurls itself (this drama set to song during My Friend, a (hopefully) metaphorical ode to the protagonist's fellow burglar who is caught and unceremoniously banged up in the back of a police van). Thus if vocally Hole is somewhat James Blakean, he's immeasurably more watchable as a performer, and looks immoderately comfortable, at ease, and almost at home before Amos' cabaret-esque backdrop of curtains, chandelier, and grand piano. Once he sheds his jacket, he merely expedites his acclimatisation to what must usually represent the most overwhelming of events, before resoundingly crowning his incisive sojourn with Torture Garden. Another anguished, lovelorn number, it is this time tinged with hope, with redemption, and although he may have taken to Twitter following the gig to splurge: 'In bed, thinking of you, missing you, hoping you're ok', with such a voice to take care of him you sense Hole will be more than ok in the swiftly approaching foreseeable.
