When, at one point in the set, Eddi Reader asked if anyone had any requests I nearly asked her to marry me. Maybe if I'd had just one more drink... maybe...? Still I don't think I was alone, such was the strength of her performance at the Octagon Theatre. In fact a capacity crowd witnessed a brilliant set from one of the Britain's leading singer/songwriters.

For those of you who don't know exactly who Eddi Reader is, she's the former lead singer with Fairground Attraction who had a monster hit with 'Perfect' some years ago but now she's firmly established in the acoustic stakes, being backed by only by the guitarists Clive Gregson and Boo Hewerdine.

Eddie has a voice that has to be heard live. Whilst her solo albums are good in their own right, free from the rigid structure of a recording environment she uses her voice much in the same way as Joni Mitchell... as another instrument, and the way she interpretted some of her back catalogue showed the mark of being a class act.

Yeh, I probably fell in love with her, and I'm not ashamed. She had confidence and vulnerability, laughter and sadness and in the darkness of the Octagon setting I got the feeling that she was singing just for me. She said she may well release a new album next year, and may well return to Bolton, so when she does I think I'll have that one more drink and go for it!

PS The Octagon is such a good setting for this kind of event, how come we can't have such concerts more often? I think we should be told

Alec Martin