Picture caption - " Ere, is that George Best on the balcony? " PUBLICATION - Unknown ORIGIN - UK DATE OF PUBLICATION - Unknown SUBJECT - Live concert review, Charing Cross Road Marquee, London, UK. TITLE - THE LACKADAISICAL AGE AUTHOR - Dave Ross PHOTO - Steve Gullick IS LEE Mavers destined to become the George Best of pop? Granted, a number of quite sane acquaintances insist that this rare appearance by The La's was the business, but from this particular fan's point of view, this was one despairingly self-indulgent performance: that's if you can call a half-hearted, go-through-the-motions rehearsal room work out a 'performance'. If the musical standard of the set was as consistently good as the near-hits of a couple of years back (the majority of the audience being here on the strength of the like of 'There She Goes' - not that there's been too much to go on since), the largely static stage presence and lackadaisical attitude could, at a pinch, be forgiven. But no. The La's flatter to deceive. Mixing the old with quirky new songs, the set starts fairly well, Mavers strumming a high-in-the-mix acoustic guitar, hinting at the oddball genius of 'Sunny Afternoon' Ray Davies, while looking like a refugee from Herman's Hermits. But the brevity of the compact, early numbers shows symptoms which are to plague later material - too often songs threaten to change up into top gear, only to come to inexplicably abrupt halts. As with the tantalising shortcomings of song structure, The La's fail to play ball with their audience. With his "I'd rather be somewhere else" (lack of) expression and steadfast refusal to communicate with a forgiving crowd (the couple of words actually uttered effectively constituting a tirade), Lee piles barricades of his own making between himself and his potential destiny. With a haircut and dimpled chin not at all dissimilar to Best circa '66, the parallels with Georgie boy are there to be drawn. Talent exists to be utilised - or squandered. If The La's do crack the charts (and here's hoping), it will probably be despite themselves. ANDY R0SS.