There was a look of permanent surprise on the face of Adam Green from the moment he took the stage to the strains of Bluebird, to the second he walked off after encore track, Dance With Me.

Sure, last time he played Brighton he was at the larger Concorde 2 but tonight, with no record to promote – save for tracks from a Kickstarter project to remake the film Aladdin (seriously) – Green seemed endearingly pleased anyone remembered him at all.

That’s not to damn him with faint praise – playing for almost 90 minutes with guitarist Toby Goodshank, the singer’s voice shone and his catch-all, abstract lyrics raised chuckles throughout.

He never once forgot a line, and even when careening around breaking into bursts of forgotten 1980s classics or regaling the crowd with tales of previous jaunts to Brighton nightspots, his musical vision remained focused.

“This is the craziest cave I’ve ever played!” Green yelped, worried he wouldn’t be able to crowdsurf in Sticky Mike’s basement. But he needn’t have worried as despite not literally managing the feat, the audience left holding the anti-folk hero in as high regard as ever.