How to describe the music? This is a man who’s either performed with, or written songs for, everyone in the Soul and Blues world. The band come on stage, and immediately it feels like a scene from the Blues Brothers – only without the car chases, fights and chickenwire. Drums, bass and lead guitar, a trio of sax/trumpet players, organ, and – um – a harp?!? Novel. The band went into a jam before Solomon Bruke himself appeared on stage, so there was about five minutes that simply set the mood – and what a mood it was.

Once Burke himself came out, we were treated to what amounted to a history of soul and blues – Stand By Me, Fa fa fa fa fa (Sad Song), Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay, and Everybody Needs Somebody to name just a few. In addition, there were tracks from the latest album – the only way to describe it was as a party, or as an out-take from the Blues Brothers films. Even the band turned out to have some well known members in it (I’m stuffed on who, exactly, because the entire thing was just overwhelming in the end), and really the entire thing was just a huge line-up of “we’ve been there, done that, and can now give away the T-Shirts” – except it wasn’t smug, it felt more like a bunch of guys coming together for a good time.

One of the touches that I found to be really impressive (whether it was planned or not, I have no way of knowing) was when Burke called out the singer from the warm-up “band” (duo is more descriptive). Lavinia, the singer – who deserves to become a star in her own right, from the songs and voice she showcased tonight – was asked to come back, and sing again – this time covering “Killing Me Softly”, which she did superbly, with Solomon Burke providing some counterpoint vocals on the chorus just for effect.

It’s rare for me to see a concert that manages to provoke emotional responses – the only other performer who can do that (although for slightly different reasons) is Marc Almond. But the show tonight even brought tears to my eyes – not for any good reason, just a reaction to how incredibly good the entire performance was. The entire audience applauded after every track, and were totally involved in the performance too – it didn’t feel like a concert, more like a collection of friends.