When a lead singer tells you he's on stage in "about" half an hour as he orders another pint in a pub which isn't even the venue he's playing in then you may question how much effort he's putting in, writes MARK TEMPLETON.

And when you see the same guy leaving the pub less than ten minutes before he walks on stage then you wonder if the 7.50 ticket price was worth it.

But Babybird's Stephen Jones turned in a quality performance at The Zodiac on Tuesday, even if the Mr Cool act earlier displayed in the boozer extends to him not doing You're Gorgeous. Although Jones had withdrawn from pop life of late, mainly to write his novel, The Bad Book, he's back on the scene with his new album Bugged.

The new stuff is quite upbeat and the live versions of the The F-Word and Out of Sight brought out the best of the Sheffield star's vocal talents. One or two of the oldies were thrown in for good measure like If You'll Be Mine, I'll Be Yours, but for all those and I suspect there were a few who turned up just for You're Gorgeous there was at least some hope.

"There's a pub down the road that apparently does You're Gorgeous on karaoke," Jones said as he left the stage.