Almond flakes on stage

The road to health following his motorbike accident was a tricky one for Marc Almond; harder still, for him, has been picking up his career. He's been suffering stagefright:

"Since the accident I've found I have very bad stage fright. It's not just nerves. I've always had nerves. I've always been a very erratic performer. I know I'm capable of being really terrible - some nights I can be great and terrible at the same time.

"But nowadays just the thought of going on stage fills me with dread. I can't memorise songs... On the opening night at Wilton's I stepped on to the stage, opened my mouth and the microphone wasn't working. In a way, it was the best thing that could have happened. I thought, 'Nothing could get worse than this.'"

So it's not so much stage fright, as a loss of confidence in his ability to brazen out a ropey performance.