Tom McRae @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

Tom McRae is a musician I have been following for a long time, and even though his first album is clearly his best, he has always managed to stick one or two great songs in each of his following albums.
The last time i had seen him live was quite a while ago, probably around 2003, in the very same venue. I remember being slightly disappointed because he had played a solo acoustic set.

So, the evening started with Steve Reynolds. He is a very talented singer and songwriter, undoubtedly. However, I must say that I am rarely impressed by guys playing stuff on their own. To be honest, they always end up sounding pretty much the same, and must have something above talent to catch my attention.
Also that the fact that he was seated through the whole set did not help, although I cannot hold that against him as this was due to a broken collar bone, so the fact that he was playing at all was already astounding...
I really need to see him after his complete recovery to judge this guy fairly.

And after was Tom McRae. He was playing with two other guys, one on piano and one on cello. As always, the music was as dark as it gets but he managed to please the crowd between songs with his witty, self-depreciating humor (mentioning that the Sun said he was "dumbing down", or his comments on people shouting song titles to prove they had bought the record).

He started with two new songs he was playing on his own, and that didn't sound very impressive to be honest, but he said they were only to warm-up his voice as he had flu. Then the other two instruments entered as he moved on to his classics, such as A&B sSng, Dose me up and Walking to Hawaii. The two other instruments did give his music a further dimension, and even played the Boy with the Bubble Gun without amplification at all, something really amazing (and that I have never seen in a gig before!)

Still, I can't help wondering why he dropped playing with a drummer entirely. I believe that this would give his music much more impact, and he used to do that, when I discovered him at a festival in France years ago.
Also (but that might be related), I was slightly disappointed that he didn't play Karaoke Soul, one of his songs I like most...