Forty years ago, at my local Town Hall, The Kinks played a blues tune called I Got Love If You Want It.
After the show, Ray Davies and his kid brother Dave graciously told my teenaged self that the song was originally recorded by Louisiana musician Slim Harpo.
This nugget of information sent me scurrying to Brum's Diskery in search of vinyl by the bluesman.
It was the moment I realised Slim Harpo wasn't one of the Marx Brothers and I'll always be grateful to Ray and Dave for taking the time to talk to me.
The Kinks, of course, went on to influence everyone from The Rolling Stones, The Jam and Blur, to Oasis and The Kaiser Chiefs today, but the band is presently in limbo.
Indeed, on this tour, there's no sign of brother Dave, who suffered a stroke in June 2004, his place taken by guitarist Mark Johns along with Dick Nolan, bass, and drummer Toby Baron.
Fortunately, the 61 year-old Muswell Hillbilly showed few signs of the throat infection that caused the last-minute cancellation of his concert at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on October 3, jumping around the Symphony Hall stage for two hours like a man half his age.
After a loud I'm Not Like Everybody Else from 1966, we were treated to an interesting selection from Other People's Lives, his new LP due next year from V2 Records.
But, let's be honest, it was those classic 60s oldies we'd come for, and here they all were: Sunny Afternoon, Dead End Street, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, Autumn Almanac, Days, ( dedicated to brother Dave), Tired Of Waiting, Set Me Free and Lola, but not always played as we remember them, which could explain the Birmingham audience's muted response.
It was back to the blues for You Really Got Me, before David Watts, Waterloo Sunset and 1979's Low Budget sent us home happy.
Raymond Douglas Davies CBE, thank you for the days.
David Yeats
