Gig Review: Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister at Margate Dreamland ★★★★★

It's 1998 and Doogie0, the guy across the hall in our student accommodation, will not stop playing The Boy With The Arab Strap. Eventually I crack and ask him who the band are. He infodumps on me with all the authority of an 18 year our music snob about this cool new Scottish band called Belle & Sebastian. I slip him a tenner, a couple of Smirnoff Ice, and the promise of my help on the next assignment we have - in return he pops into town and grabs me If You’re Feeling Sinister. Despite my obsession, the band never tour near our uni until literally the day after I leave for good. It's 2023 and Dan, my mate at Twitter, invites me to fly to San Francisco to speak at a conferences he's running. Twitter will pay for my flights, hotel, and sundries. I look at the tickets for Belle & Sebastian at the Roundhouse that I'd booked for my birthday. Ah well, I get to celebrate in SF with a bunch of American friends I've not seen in years. I reluctantly cancel the tickets and spend the refund on…