I was at the first Putney gig and Cambridge and it's probably fair to say that David Owen's opinion is a minority one, possibly a minority of one.

It's also worth pointing out that AFAIK the Putney Youtube clips weren't uploaded by the band and appear to have been filmed on a not particularly good phone so are a bit misleading.

As for his "Emperor's New Clothes" comment, the songs are the same so if they were good then, and they were, they're good now. Alright Jack, Walk My Way and the rest are as relevant now as ever. As for the performances, Putney was better, probably as a result of it being a small room, most things are better in small rooms, but Cambridge was good. The brass section is epic, and yes, there are guitar solos, and yes there is a sense of community singing at times when the audience joins in, but I don't find that a bad thing, particularly the latter.

For me, it was astoundingly good and a very long way indeed from "shit".