Somebody - either from the venue or, more alarmingly, from the band - had put a notice up around the University of London Union bar last night that gave me a very uneasy feeling.

In plain, no-nonsense type on white A4 paper, it read: "Tonight's performance will contain some very quite moments."

It then went on to say something or other about respecting the band and the other patrons at the venue by keeping your mouth shut etcetera.

Apart from the obvious spelling error (some quite what moments?), this was hardly the rock'n' roll attitude I'd been told The Frames possessed. It was like having a sign up everywhere saying: "My Nan's in the audience tonight, so can you keep the cuss words to a minimum?"

Unfortunately, it seems noone else in the audience read the sign. Unless you had an ear pressed against one of the stage speakers, it was impossible to drown out the incessant chatter of the audience.

This is becoming an annoying feature of ULU. The sound levels are set so low that it's all too easy to disengage from the artist and talk over the top of the music. If someone were to tweak the volume just a little bit, it would be enough for the music to command attention.

And attention is what The Frames deserved last night.

There were some genuinely good moments, such as the songs Fake and Keepsake from the Burn The Maps album, and the Pixies-esque God Bless Mom - but these moments were precious and few. And it's hard to stay interested when no one else seems to be bothering.

If this upset the members of the band, however, they certainly didn't show it. They were laid back to the point of being horizontal. When frontman Glen Hansard's guitar began playing up almost immediately into the second song, he simply stopped the band and went to get it fixed.

Under normal circumstances this would be considered deeply unprofessional, and there would be a lot of angst coming from the stage.

But Hansard made a simple apology and joked with fellow band members as the crowd continued their conversation.

Indeed, it was like wandering into a rich Irish kid's 21st birthday party. The band stopped midway through two songs - just to have another go at the intro - Hansard's between-song banter included two impersonations of Bruce Springsteen and fellow countryman Bono, and the whole night was very impromptu and relaxed.

Perhaps a little too relaxed.