Peter Hammill

An oldie but (very) goodie.
Peter Hammill is now 69 years old. I only mention it because I need to remind myself that this is what you might call an old man - not neessarily someone you expect to be passionate, powerful, creative and vigorous. And he was all of those things.
It started gently with a couple of simple piano pieces (Don't tell me and ...) but things quickly got edgier with Faculty X. He has a huge range of songs to choose from - and said that on this occasion he'd chosen roughly one from every 3 years so we got a good range of tunes from the different periods, including only 2 from the latest album - it's a tour just because, not specifically to promote the new tunes.
After a while he switched to guitar and led into (for me) the highlight of the show - La Rossa. On album, it's a complex multi-instrumental piece, but was expertly re-made just for guitar and voice - and the voice certainly still has what it takes.
Then back to the piano and finally to a closing section of a new song (The Descent) and an old one (Refugees) followed by a well deserved standing ovation.
Just goes to show - the quality of the songs and of the singer combined to make a memorable show.
Age is not important.