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Between sets Mickey Zammuto, brother of Books guitarist Nick Zammuto and designated merch guy beckoned me over and asked me to tell him "One thing you think all Americans should know about Canada." "That it doesn't normally snow in Ottawa in mid-April!" The crappy weather and a sold-out show for Final Fantasy up in Wakefield probably went some ways to explaining why the turnout wasn't heavier (though I thought it was pretty good). At least the crowd was very enthusiastic. I haven't been to many shows where the audience laughs out loud while a song is being played, but some of The Books' video collages were quite amusing. Anyway, the heart of their performance is still the fine cut-and-paste pop which takes an acoustic base and adds odds'n'ends of found sound. It wasn't the best pop show I've seen this year, but it was gentle and humorous and fun.

Paul de Jong - his new skeletal cello is an attempt to make an upcoming Transatlantic flight a little less expensive. Their first song featured letters from the alphabet - as you can see, they were on "V" at this point.



Nick Zammuto is not normally this blurry, but with the lights turned low a long exposure was necessary to see anything at all.



The Books are justly acclaimed for the visual component to their show.



Paul eases back for the electric bass number.





The whole lot!



What else? They covered Nick Drake's Cello Song. They took a mid-set breather while Tokyo played. They finished their main set with Take Time. Their two-song encore also featured The Future, Wouldn't That be Nice?

• Show reminder: Harvee and Sadie Hell perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox. The Murder Plans and EastBorough play at Irene's Pub. Interpol perform at the Capital Music Hall. Ragni, Sacha Gabriel and Amos the Transparent perform at The Rainbow.