Nouvelle vague
Queens Hall, Edinburgh
★★★★

IS there any other cover band on the planet that can serve up Bauhaus, The Buzzcocks, The Clash, Dead Kennedies, Depeche Mode, Joy Devision, The Smiths and Tears for Fears in a single concert?

Or any other band that takes these confrontational punk and post-punk classics and elegantly experiments with what happens when the same melodies are delivered by women, shorn of aggression, and infused with the gentlest of Bossa Nova accompaniments?

Welcome to the world of Nouvelle Vague, that sly commercial confection, here serving up a 20th anniversary concert in crisp style, and drawing mostly from their first album (the first song in both their canon and this gig is Love Will Tear Us Apart) and their very latest, Should I Stay Or Should I Go.

Is this a cross-channel homage? Is this feminist appropriation? Is this easy listening irony? Is this the end of the road?

Whatever it is, these gigs are the best chance to catch them as a live act because the musicianship and arrangements, guided almost anonymously from the keyboards by co-founder Marc Collin, are bang on. Jerome Pichon on guitar, standing in for the late great Olivier Libaux, assumes the customary air of weary tolerance as he picks out yet another Bossa Nova intro; Julien Boye and Oliver Smith, on drums and bass respectively, do their ultra-competent thing.

And then, through smoke and darkness come the husky vocals of those plucked for the night from Nouvelle Vague’s endless carousel of chanteuses; in this case the limber Bijou and the lissom Marine Quemere.

Apart from some flamboyant dance moves from Bijou, no-one wants to give the impression of trying too hard, despite the clarity and showmanship of this road-hardened rendition of their repertoire.

It’s a formula that seduces, and keeps its distance. It’s more of a tease than a message; a juke-box translation service that coyly inquires what you saw in these songs in the first place.

The sense of rage is neutralised and they return the songs to the simple charms of music, all the way from Guns of Brixton to This Charming Man. You can’t help wondering how it goes down in France.

But it is a joy to be part of the anniversary of this delicious, provocative concept, and this community of singers. Once a key chanteuse, Phoebe Killdeer is instead the support act, and place is given to her other career and her own brand of experimental, anti-commercial songwriting that is as unpredictable and it is groovy.

For the rest of the UK tour the support will be Melanie Pain, another NV veteran  and not to be missed.

But as for NV itself: while the French “cool” is out there to annoy, the panache is there in bucketloads.

On tour in the UK until November 29. For more information see.