Eleven years since they last graced the Fringe, Melbourne�s My Friend the Chocolate are back sounding every bit as good as memories suggested.

Star rating ****
Eleven years since they last graced the Fringe, Melbourne's My Friend the Chocolate are back sounding every bit as good as memories suggested. Singer, pianist and songwriter David Bridie continues to say a lot with an economy of words and an attractive, slightly parched singing style, and the gradual introduction of cello, violin, mandolin, guitar, double bass and drums makes for a seductively paced set.

Opening with the evocative Hymn to the Carnies, with its tents and sideshows, Bridie moved on to matters of the heart and topics that do his head in, like home improvement TV programmes, with instrumentals adding Persian and Eastern European flavours. This is a band that rocks but with elegance and eloquence: Let's Go Walk This Town boasts a gorgeous string arrangement and the kind of blissful vamp that has become their trademark. It's also a band that, for all its grandeur and the anthem-like quality of songs like Lighthouse Keeper, doesn't take itself too seriously. Go see.
Until August 22.