I, like most boys of my age, fancied Debbie Harry like mad. She was the raunchy older woman. Sexy, cool, full of attitude. So very different to the girls in downtown Darlington where we grew up. She was our Number One.

Fast-forward thirty-something years to Friday night and I finally got my chance to see Debbie in the flesh, so to speak.

She may be 66 and probably older than a lot of the crowd’s grannies, but she still looked fantastic.

Wearing sunglasses and wrapped in a red hoodie to keep her warm on a rather chilly Knavesmire night, she soon got her fans to their feet with a quick-fire hat-trick of hits, Union City Blue, Dreaming and Atomic.

Things then went flat for a while as they sang three songs from their new album, Panic Of Girls, mainly because no one knew the words! Promotional niceties over, and they got back to what the majority of the fans had come for – the hits.

And they came thick and fast; Call Me, Sunday Girl, Hanging On The Telephone, The Tide Is High and Rapture and Maria among others. For some reason Denis and Picture This never got a look in.

At the end of the one-and-a-half- hour set, Debbie came on for the encore waving a white bath towel in surrender and then belted out probably Blondie’s greatest hit, Heart Of Glass.

Her voice was not as strong as it once was, and there were times during the night when you struggled to hear her clearly. Whether that was down to the sound system or the direction of the wind, I don’t really know.

But she still has an aura of greatness around her and I, like the majority of the crowd, were very touched by your presence, dear.