The 200 fans who came to see Steve Knightley’s All At Sea were in good voice and high spirits.

It was a tour of shanties and seafairing, played exclusively in ports and coastal towns, and without Steve’s erstwhile Show Of Hands partner, Phil Beer.

The scene was set for this solo gig with an upbeat guitar shanty so lovingly steeped in clichés that the lyrics – “stem to stern”, “fair winds” and “foul seas” - painted a shortbread-tin picture of a seaside existence.

But narrated in Steve’s folky voice, frayed just slightly at the edges like a line of worn rigging, the love of the salt spray still came through.

The set incorporated different tones and speeds, and not all worked.

Braemer The Saxon, a Show of Hands song about an indigenous islander who died at Hastings, was just as powerful as a solo, and switching gears, Billy Joel’s The Downeaster Alexa worked well, given a hint of a Devon fisherman.

(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, however, was strikingly incongruous, and at times we missed the accompaniment of Phil Beer on the mandolin or fiddle - although he was there in spirit in a dozen anecdotes.

It was a softer, slower-paced gig than a Show Of Hands performance, and more intimate, but the band’s whole is greater than the sum of their parts.

Three stars