The Tiger Lillies, Love For Sale: The Songs of Cole Porter, The Sage, Gateshead

FOR a band who have been around 26 years, and have plied their particular brand of singing about the seedy underworld in clubs and small venues all over the globe, it's good to see their following growing in the UK, their homeland.

After last year's wonderful collaboration with Opera North, when they achieved huge success with Lulu: A Murder Ballad, this show had the feel of something akin to a rushed try-out; the only performances have been a single show in Manchester, Leeds and Gateshead, and singer Martyn Jacques used an autocue.

What is certain, Porter's songs have never been interpreted like this; apart from wearing bowler hats and make-up causing Jacques and Adrian Stout to look like demons newly risen from the grave, Jacques' voice is falsetto. They use a combination of grand piano, a home-made ukulele thing, a guitar, an accordion, a double bass, a Theremin and a carpenter's saw played with a violin bow. Unorthodox but brilliant.

The duo opened up with a wonderfully haunting rendition of Love For Sale, and the first half took in Anything Goes, Let's Do It, Every Time We Say Goodbye, I've Got You Under My Skin and My Heart Belongs to Daddy.

The second half comprised You're The Top, I Love Paris, I Get a Kick Out Of You, All of You, You Do Something To Me, Let's Misbehave, Don't Fence Me In and Miss Otis Regrets.

The irony is, however, they sprinkled Tiger Lillies songs throughout the set and, well, the Tiger Lillies singing Tiger Lillies songs sound better than the Tiger Lillies playing Cole Porter.

A work in progress? Yes, but The Tiger Lillies could interpret the Yellow Pages and still make it sound original, edgy and wonderful.

Ed Waugh