The first time John Dragonetti (aka Jack Drag) visited Oxford it was as a rather fetching one man and his box of tricks job. This time he is back promoting new album, ‘The Sun Inside’, and has bought with him a full band (proper live drummer and everything). Unfortunately, tonight is a good case for the argument that sometimes less is better than more.

As you’d expect, few of the more eccentric old songs get an airing, which is a shame because the new songs are nowhere near his former glories. Each song sounds dull and lifeless, aiming for early Primal Scream but ending up like a stoned Jesus Jones.

The lo-fi slacker American influences are all ticked off present and correct. We get The Dandy Warhols, Beck, Eels, etc. but ultimately the songs lack the conviction needed to overlook such blatant plagiarism. This appears to be the main problem with Jack Drag: he aims so high in the cool stakes he can only miss the mark completely - the new group even look like a fake band put together for a Gap advert (although more likely hastily assembled for a European tour).

Before the encore they play one of only two songs off the vastly superior ‘Soft Songs: Avaiting’ album. It’s called ‘We Could’ve Been Big’. A gorgeously lysergic psychedelic folk anthem, it’s also a title that could come back to haunt them.

Phill Honey