KEY POINTS:
There is an old observation about the difference between rock and jazz guitarists: rock guitarists make the easy look difficult, jazz guitarists make the impossible look effortless.
And then there's Jeff Beck, a rock guitarist who improvises like a jazz musician and makes it look easy. And enjoyable.
Where most rock guitarists grimace, Beck grins as he pulls out a solo which twists on a tonal change and shifts from block chords in the manner of a metal band to the most holy of softly crying notes.
The man is an exceptional musician and at this concert it hardly mattered he didn't say a word until introducing the band at the end, his guitar did all the talking - and you also understood why he hasn't worked with a vocalist in decades. They would be surplus to requirements.
From his signature tune-cum-live soundcheck Beck's Bolero from the late 60s (the central passages still sound like the jumping off point for Led Zeppelin) through his sublime, emotion-drenched version of Stevie Wonder's ballad Cause We've Ended as Lovers, over the chopping reggae of Behind the Veil and bruising Led Boots to the terrific treatment of the Beatles' A Day in the Life, Beck had the predominantly middle-age male audience either hushed or ecstatic.
And in this age when guitarists swap instruments for each new song, Beck pulled out all these tonal and emotional colours from the same guitar by judicious use of whammy bar, foot pedals, finger-picking, bottleneck slide and tapping.
This was a virtuous showcase delivered with self-effacement - and it wasn't just Beck's show alone.
Drummer Vinnie Colaiuta cannoned around his kit with subtlety and fervour (during one solo his glasses flew off), bassist Tal Wilkenfeld pulled out the funk or a Pastorius-like fluidity you were more used to hearing from a fretless bass, and keyboard David Sancious (a jazz player who was on Springsteen's first two albums) added tonal colour and evocative soundbeds in the ballads.
But upfront was just one man and a multi-lingual guitar.
It was an extraordinary performance which he made look effortless and enjoyable, and in April Beck (already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds) will be inducted as a solo performer.
I think that's called natural justice.
