For some, thirteen is an unlucky number. But for The Divine Comedy, their thirteenth studio album Rainy Sunday Afternoon — recorded in Abbey Road’s Studio 3 — proves anything but cursed. As the band took to the stage to the solemn strains of Edward Elgar’s “Nimrod” from The Enigma Variations, the full house at the Barbican Centre erupted in passionate applause. Clearly, fortune still favours Neil Hannon and company.
They opened with “Achilles,” the first track from Rainy Sunday Afternoon. Inspired by a World War I poem and filtered through the lens of classical mythology, it’s a haunting chamber-pop masterpiece that was a decade in the making — and worth every second of that long gestation. The song’s emotional intensity left the Barbican both chilled and elated.
Frontman Neil Hannon, now 54, looked every bit the refined raconteur — sharp suit, trilby hat, and youthful charm undiminished. At one point, he removed the hat with a grin to reveal a full head of hair, earning approving laughter from the audience. Then the tone shifted darker with “The Last Time I Saw the Old Man,” written after the passing of his father. Whether the performance served as catharsis for Hannon or not, the audience felt every note of grief and tenderness that rippled through its poignant arrangement.
The somber atmosphere soon gave way to nostalgia as the band revisited Promenade’s “When the Lights Go Out All Over Europe” (1994) before bouncing into the title track “Rainy Sunday Afternoon” — a bright, sixties-inflected pop gem written during the early days of COVID lockdowns. It was a deft reminder of Hannon’s knack for pairing wit and warmth, even in the gloomiest times.
Apart from their earliest releases (Liberation and Fanfare for the Comic Muse), the night became a generous tour through the band’s entire catalogue. Bang Goes the Knighthood received special treatment, with crowd favourites “At the Indie Disco,” “Neapolitan Girl,” “Have You Ever Been in Love,” and the gloriously theatrical title track lighting up the hall in succession.
In a surprise move, Hannon dipped into Office Politics (2019) with “Norman and Norma,” greeted by thunderous applause. Even Regeneration — an album Hannon has famously had mixed feelings about — was met with overwhelming enthusiasm when he tentatively asked if the audience wanted to hear something from it. The resounding “Yes!” that shook the Barbican’s brutalist foundations left him no choice but to oblige with “Lost Property.”
Between songs, Hannon’s trademark wit flowed freely. He toasted his bandmates from a drinks trolley, led the audience in singing Happy Birthday to his mother, and introduced “Don’t Mention the War,” from the Modern Love soundtrack — which slotted seamlessly into the set’s emotional arc.
Alongside rediscovered treasures, the band delivered the expected classics — “National Express,” “Generation Sex,” and “Something for the Weekend” — before closing with the traditional show-stopper “Tonight We Fly.” By then, the audience was fully aloft.
The last time The Divine Comedy played the Barbican, they honoured Fin de Siècle and Regeneration in full — a perfect match of venue and vision. This time, they seemed even more at ease. Even the typeface of the seat numbers matched that of Rainy Sunday Afternoon’s artwork — a small but fitting synchronicity.
This was a performance that reaffirmed Hannon’s mastery of tone and texture — balancing the haunting and the humorous, the nostalgic and the new. Album thirteen may have emerged from rain, but tonight proved that The Divine Comedy remain a band touched by lightning.
Be the first to comment