Yet another coup for the ever-welcoming Pocklington Arts Centre. Was this to be a Phoenix Night? Far from it.

The immaculate Tony Christie took to the stage and we knew this was going to be something special. With a ten-piece line-up, no corners were cut – proof that profits bowed to quality.

His band were outstanding, capturing the warmth and classic sound more befitting Vegas than Pock. Opening with Avenues And Alleyway, Christie danced through anthems and songs from 2008’s Made In Sheffield and this year’s Now’s The Time!, a powerful album that more than tips its hat to Motown and Stax.

His experience and quality showed in his effortless engagement with the crowd; he had them hanging on every line of Human League’s Louise.

Amarillo stood out like a piece of bubble gum surrounded by Swiss chocolates but he would not have got out alive if it had not made the set list.

Comedian Peter Kay rang Christie to raise both a fortune for Comic Relief and his profile, but Richard Hawley, Jarvis Cocker and Arctic Monkeys’Alex Turner do not ask you to sing their songs to be post-modern, ironic or to weigh favour with their mothers; they do so because Christie is a class act with a rich voice.

In a time where far more edgy icons from the Seventies’ are now advertising car insurance and butter, Christie is still at the top of his game.

Never has anyone better fitted the saying that “many a good tune can be played on an old fiddle”. He is so much more than a geographical inquiry.