Calling all musical surfers – catch The Waeve while you can.

This magical collaboration between Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall is burgeoning in ways even they probably didn’t imagine were possible when it first started during lockdown.

At a rammed Leadmill, The Waeve were simply stunning. No other band does what they do, constructing ever-shifting mini-epics that can tug at the heart strings one minute before juddering into a colossal roar.

Not for them the familiar strait-jacket of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle-eight-instrumental-outro. The Waeve burst with inventiveness, each song capable of sounding like several different songs expertly welded together.

If anyone was in any doubt before, here is proof that Coxon is a genuine 24-carat musical genius. And yet he wears his greatness lightly, his disarming presence on stage a thrilling counter-balance to the ear-popping sounds he produces from guitar, saxophone and harmonica. At times, Coxon fumbles with his glasses, apologising that he can’t see his guitar properly, and grimaces hilariously when he begins playing mandolin on Song For Eliza May before deciding to stop because it needs re-tuning.

Flawed genius is the very best kind. Humanity oozes out of every pore of The Waeve.

And Coxon is far from being the focal point of the band, despite the global profile he has earned from his work with Blur and his solo career. Rose is thrust centre stage, switching between playing mesmerising keyboard melodies from a seated position and then jumping up for some frenzied tambourine interludes.

Drummer Tom White, also part of the underrated Electric Soft Parade, does some heavy lifting. He delivered the backing vocals on some of the songs that, having heard the album versions, I’d expected to be delivered by Coxon.

But that’s a big part of the appeal of The Waeve, this multi-headed musical beast that’s so hard to pin down.

Coxon clearly has great fun exchanging back and forth sallies of sax with Charlotte Glasson on the other side of the stage. At one point, she plays two saxophones at the same, like she’s in a jazz version of Spinal Tap.

This current tour is all too short – only 5 dates. Let’s hope The Waeve can play more UK venues later in the year – this is a live show that deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

Simon Ashberry