Steve Forbert @ ABC

They're clearly not real big on fostering an illusion of artistic seamlessness at the ABC, with the time between the support and the main event used for band members, techies and Steve Forbert himself to swarm around the stage in preparation, hoping no-one turns the lights on. When they do go on, it's quite a shock seeing someone you only know from a 30-year-old album cover in the flesh, even if Forbert has barely aged from the wee boy he was back then, with only his constant references to how old the songs are betraying his vintage. His light and twinkly '70s numbers may have been given a harder edge by a beefy lead guitar, but they still speak of the aspirations of small-town youth to such a Springsteenian extent that it's no surprise when the Boss himself gets a name-check. The Baghdad Dream may have a truly terrific guitar hook, but enough already, eh? Apparently there's a war on, and it's not very popular. Still, tired politics aside, this is an evening of four old guys enjoying the hell out of their rock 'n' roll, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. [Paul Greenwood]