It was cool to see this coolest of slightly uncool dudes from my younger days looking dapper and sounding on top form. The audience demographic was predictable – lots of guys in hats, it was like a Heisenberg convention. His band – The Imposters – were polished and tight. The keyboard player, Steve Nieve – was awesome. And I was especially good on backing vocals during Oliver’s Army.

Costello wrote one of my favourite ever protest songs – a beautifully vicious diatribe against Margaret Thatcher that was replayed a lot when she died. His politics are just as loftily expressed these days and no less on point, as he reminded us – with genuine sadness – before singing ‘All These Strangers’ with a warning that we seem to be repeating old mistakes. Oh Elvis …

Here’s the setlist …

1. Big Tears
2. No Action
3. Watching the Detectives
4. Wild Honey
5. The Other Side of Summer
6. Flutter & Wow
7. Moods for Moderns (instrumental) / Shotgun
8. New Lace Sleeves
9. Sunday’s Best / Polythene pam
10. Walk Us Uptown
11. Beyond Belief
12. Clubland
13. Stations of the Cross
14. (I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea
15. Bedlam
16. Oliver’s Army
17. (What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace, Love and Understanding

Encore:

1. Pills and Soap
2. Shipbuilding
3. Face in the crowd
4. Green Shirt
5. All These Strangers
6. Man Out of Time

And some snaps …