IT'S a powerful performer who can command absolute silence from his audience from the very first note he plays.

From set opener Deadweight on Velveteen, Jose Gonzalez, bathed in a single white spotlight, had Manchester Opera House in the palm of his hand.

Absorbed in his own musical world, Gonzalez is mesmersing to watch - his right foot keeps time as his fingers effortlessly pick out intricate melodies and his haunting voice fills the venue.

As he works his way through Fold and All You Deliver, using his guitar as percussion, it's hard to believe one person is making the awesome sound that oscilates through the building.

The laid back tempo picks up when he is joined on stage by Erik Bodin and Yukimi Nagano, from the band, Little Dragon, and he works his way through some tracks from second album In Our Nature.

Crosses is met with vocal approval from the audience but when the song most of them seem to have been waiting for arrives, Heartbeats, cheers and applause rip through the venue.

Further spine-tingling versions of Massive Attack's Teardrop, Kylie's Hand on Your Heart and curveball cover Bronski Beat's Small Town Boy, prove he can take almost any song and make it his own.

You've no doubt heard his songs as backdrops to adverts and programmes, but this can't do him justice - to realise just how compelling an artist he is, you need to see him live.