The evening got off to a cracking start, as the surprise support act was none other than Maxi Priest. A master showman, who knows how to work his audience, he oozed charisma and had the crowd on their feet from the outset.

Such was his energy, and ably backed by fine musicians, he belted out numbers such as Some Guys Have All The Luck and It's A Wild World, to the delight of the audience. This is a man who knows the meaning of the feel-good factor.

UB40's subsequent appearance, was, by comparison, something of a damp squib initially. Their choice of opening number was surprisingly downbeat, so they entered not so much with a bang but a whimper. Their next six songs - largely from their new album, Dub - were similarly low-key, and it took some time for them to get into their stride.

It is an extarordinary achievement, however, for a band to have been working together and notching up hits for 28 years without a change of line-up, having come to prominence in 1980 supporting The Pretenders on tour.

When the only groups to have had more hits than they have are The Shadows, Status Quo and Queen, there is plainly much more to them than sheer longevity. Indeed, in 2003, they were awarded the Ivor Novello Award for International Achievement.

They did, eventually, turn up trumps with crowd-pleasers such as Red, Red Wine and Kingston Town, and the crowd were indeed pleased.