Having given birth to a son just ten weeks ago, few would have denied Beth Orton the chance to extend her time out of the limelight.

Yet Saturday night saw her arrive in Brighton stripped right down to just her voice and guitar, laid bare with no band members to hide behind.

This exposure emphasised every forgotten lyric, wrong chord and broken piece of equipment, but it all helped to generate the overwhelming good feeling from an audience that was willing her on with every nervous mistake.

It helped turn what could have been just another date on her tour schedule into a unique evening in the deceptively intimate enclave of St George’s Church.

Beth appeared sheepish early in her set, after being forced to restart or simply abandon some numbers.

The one thing that never let the Norfolk songstress down was her sumptuous voice. In the live setting it packed a surprising punch that might not have been expected from listening to her recorded output.

Perhaps the best example came in the beautiful Central Reservation, during which you could hear a pin drop as her gentle finger-picked guitar wound its way around her words.

There were plenty of unfamiliar moments as she showcased a number of new songs, but delightful renditions of Someone’s Daughter and Stolen Car sealed Orton’s place as one of the country’s premier singer-songwriters, to be forgotten at your peril.