The past few weeks have not been kind to Britain's mid-1990s rock fraternity. Formerly lofty names have hit the earth with a hollow thud. Cast's tour was cancelled amid rumours of poor ticket sales, and they are currently "considering their future". James have "amicably parted company" with their record label after a decade. And Solid Nourishment, the debut album from former Black Grape vocalist Paul "Kermit" Leveridge, sank without trace.
The latter seems a particularly harsh example of capricious public taste. Solid Nourishment received warm reviews. It was generally agreed that, while his former partner Shaun Ryder was content to rest on past glories by touring with an increasingly unconvincing Happy Mondays line-up, Leveridge had inherited Black Grape's capacity for snappy, loping grooves and sleazily dark lyrics.
But tonight, even the tiny Borderline is far from full. A suspicious crowd lurks uncomfortably by the bar, as if slightly embarrassed to have paid to see such an unfashionable band. The area in front of the stage remains ominously empty all night.
You can't fault Big Dog's performance, though. The band, featuring former Black Grape drummer Ged Lynch, are tight and effective, switching deftly from the exuberant organ-led funk of Around Myself to Boom's dark hip-hop and the ragga-influenced beats of I Turn Me On. The songs are fine; only the lumbering, nu-metal racket of In Too Deep falls flat. And for a man widely considered a hopeless drug casualty - he nearly died from drug-related blood poisoning after Black Grape's split - Leveridge is a superb frontman. In bondage trousers, kilt and dyed fluorescent-green hair, he lurches around the tiny stage, arms flapping, his face a contorted, gurning mask.
It's not the band's fault that the gig is a depressing experience. Like Black Grape before them, Big Dog would thrive in a party atmosphere - which is difficult to generate if half your guests haven't turned up. It's an irony not lost on Leveridge. "You're too kind, too kind," he says, acknowledging the distant crowd's applause. "Actually," he adds as a rueful afterthought, "you're not kind enough, but there you go."
