Just before Edwyn Collins came on, the throbbing bassline of Chic's "Good Times" rumbled out across the packed South Bank auditorium. As a statement of intent it was pretty clear. Having suffered two debilitating brain haemorrhages followed by a bout of MRSA in 2005, Collins is understandably delighted to be gigging again. To paraphrase the old stand-up comedy opening salvo, he is probably delighted to be anywhere again. Some paralysis down his right side means he walks with a fetching silver-topped stick and does not play guitar onstage any more, but nothing held him back. His rapturously received, emotionally charged performance was captivating.
The former Orange Juice frontman has just released a new CD, Losing Sleep, but this was an occasion when his fans clearly wanted to hear the classics as much as the latest material, which ranges from the retro-spiky to the folk-tinged. And Collins happily obliged, politely introducing songs that needed no introduction, turning the QEH into his very own indie time machine. A pitch-perfect "What Presence?" kicked off a roll-call of hits from a bygone age of plaid shirts and camp performances on Top of the Pops. By one of those neurological twists of fate, Collins struggles to speak but can still sing magisterially for his supper in that distinctively quavering delivery.
'The back catalogue that felt fey and frothy at the time seemed weightier than ever'
Now 51, Collins no longer has much of a fringe to wear "like Roger McQuinn" as he sang on "Consolation Prize". But if one closed one's eyes it could have been 1983 all over again, as he ripped into "Rip it Up" and his band, including Sex Pistol Paul Cook on drums, showed that as a tunesmith Collins always was the funkiest punk on the block. A commanding rendition of his first solo single, "Don't Shilly Shally", was given a hero's welcome, while "Make Me Feel Again", from the underrated Gorgeous George album, had new resonance in lines such as "I'm doubled up in agony" and "Just need your bedside manner".
If anything, the back catalogue that felt fey and frothy at the time seemed weightier than ever. The frenetic 1980 Orange Juice debut “Falling and Laughing” and the Glaswegian's lucrative worldwide hit "A Girl Like You" stood out not just as mere nostalgic blasts from the past but as old reliable friends. And slowly but surely numbers from Losing Sleep dovetailed nicely. The title track actually feels like a natural sequel to "A Girl Like You", with it's understated Northern Soul stomp and, as a welcome surprise, Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos - who has championed Collins for many years and helped out on this album - strolled on to harmonise on the stabby new wave of "Do it Again". It was the kind of evening when chums happily dropped by to pay homage. Collins was clearly beaming as The Cribs' youthful lead vocalist, Ryan Jarman – a man brave enough to sport the most severe bowl cut since Rowan Atkinson's original Black Adder – provided vocal support on "What is my Role?”
On the acoustic track, "Searching for the Truth", Collins explicitly acknowledged that he felt grateful to be alive and had absolutely no complaints. "I will always be lucky in my life," he sang, on one of the first songs written as he recovered, following it with a plaintive, emotional harmonica solo that left numerous grown men suddenly complaining that some grit had got into their eyes and made them water. Rest assured, the standing ovation and double encore was no sympathy vote though. This was simply a superlative show. Good times indeed.
Watch Edwyn Collins perform "Losing Sleep" (YouTube):
