The Feeling - 8 June 2006 - ULU, London

Okay. Quick question here - have I missed something?

Seriously. Is something passing me by? Because I hate to be left out.

The band in front of me, The Feeling, have been playing for what feels like 20 minutes, and they’re thanking us and saying goodnight.

The debut album ‘Twelve Steps and Home’ has garnered rave reviews of late - Q described it as “perfectly poised, knowingly urbane and slicker than a vaseline spillage,” while Observer Music Magazine awarded it ‘Album of the month.’

That The Feeling offer a return to soft rock (whether we like it or not) is well-known by now - as are the comparisons to Supertramp, Hall & Oates and 10CC.

What is seemingly ignored, however, is the sound of Eurovision washing over us here. This is like being at a high school prom - if we were American, of course.

Two top 10 singles (Sewn and Fill My Little World) suggest that the five-piece may be on to something. But then, choruses that go: “I love it when you call, I love it when you call, I love it when you call, but you never call at all,” belong at the bottom of the sea, if anywhere.

The question remains, then: Have I missed something?