In the last few years, Sheffield’s vintage crooner, Tony Christie, has been reborn as a cult icon, thanks, largely, to the patronage of fellow natives Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley.

And quite rightly so – he’s a fantastic performer with a powerful, distinctive voice and a penchant for overblown country-meets-easy-listening pop tunes about spending lonely nights in showbiz cities in American deserts.

He plays the whole of his great new Hawley-produced album, Made In Sheffield tonight. Backed by members of Hawley’s band, the performance is one of those truly special gigs - a showcase for his own self-penned tunes, like the rousing rockabilly of ‘Going Home Tomorrow’, as well as a chance for him to turn in some interesting cover versions.

Highlights include a melancholy piano and lap steel guitar take on The Human League’s ‘Louise’ and an orchestral reading of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘The Only Ones’. There’s also a towering, Roy Orbison-inspired interpretation of Pulp’s little-known ‘Born To Cry’.

Interspersed with plenty of anecdotes, it all ends up like a proper cabaret show, with Christie playing ‘I Did What I Did For Maria’, prowling the stage to ‘Walk Like A Panther’ and finishing with a perfect rendition of ‘Avenues and Alleyways’. And guess what? No ‘Amarillo’.

Sean Hannam