Alan Price at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

This evening we went to see Alan Price at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as another gig in Ray Davies' Meltdown Festival. I saw Alan in 2008 at a pub in Barnes as part of the London Jazz Festival and decided that if I had the chance to see him at a 'proper' venue then I would. So I did. You can't get more 'proper' than the QE Hall on the Southbank.

Alan strode out onto the stage in black shirt and trousers with a white jacket and sat down behind his keyboards, playing as he introduced his band who were all the same blokes I saw three years ago with the addition of a trumpet and a sax player. Zoot Money, Alan's perennial foil, was there and he'd played the support spot before Alan came on. Just as at the previous gig, Alan makes sure each band member has their own chance to shine at some point during the show, whether through a song or a solo, including a drum and a bass solo. They're all excellent musicians so that's fair enough. They gel together really well and are clearly used to playing together.

I was there to see Alan, the original Geordie boy made good, and it was a pleasure to see him. His voice is as good as ever as he plonks away on his keyboards and he's got a nice line in patter in between songs - I'd quite happily hear him talk and develop a few yarns over a pint or two. He blames his mother for forcing him to sing 'Hi Lili Hi Lo' and he's had to sing it for 48 years and he tells us how Zoot Money's dad invented surf boarding. He also tells us that he understands that the age of his audience means that the women will need to go to the toilet and the men will need to doze off during his medley of four songs from 'O Lucky Man' and he won't be offended. Nobody dozed, Alan.

Favourite songs included, 'Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear' (I still couldn't see any bear), 'O Lucky Man', a great version of 'House of the Rising Sun' and a big 'I Put A Spell On You' that filled the space with great noise, as did 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place'. The highlight for me was 'Jarrow Song' even though we didn't get the full song, it's a powerful piece of narrative with stonking musical backing. I love the class-war line, 'Then Geordie with my blessing burn them down!'. I always think of my Grandma at that point - she lived through those times and the Jarrow Crusade and you don't mess with a Geordie lass.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show, great songs played by excellent musicians without any fanfare or pretension and what's wrong with that? Alan hasn't lost any of his charm or wit and his voice is as good as ever. If you get the chance then go and see him live. I'll be more than happy to spend another couple of hours in his company. And thanks to Ray for getting him to play as part of Meltdown.