Bert Jansch @ St Brides

As Bert Jansch trundles onto the stage it becomes clear that his audience are already so enamoured with his reputation that a mere shrug of shoulders would elicit roaring applause. While undeniably a masterful guitarist he does not present a particularly engaging live spectacle. Opening with the famous It Don't Bother Me and only briefly touching on material from his new album, here thankfully rendered without the help of the tiresome Beth Orton, even Jansch himself seems aware that his recent offerings sound almost incongruous placed next to older songs.

During this weaker material the performance lags into the musical equivalent of a Magner's Cider advertisement – self-consciously authentic and brimming with a contrived pastoral soul that is essentially vacuous. There is no denying Jansch's brilliant past but at present, performances like this reek of VH1 documentary romanticism and do little to confirm his continuing relevance as anything more than a musical antiquity. [Miles Johnson]