Dr Feelgood was a great night

With the band members’ average age well into the 50s, it was little different for the audience with only a couple of teens and twenty-somethings hovering coyly at the edges.

But age was no barrier to a fantastically classic rock night with the title of the band’s Top Ten hit ‘Milk and Alcohol’ epitomising the irony.

Central to the performance was lead singer Robert Kane who strutted his stuff, wielded the mic and played harmonica like a still hungry mid-life Jagger.

Yet Kane was just the linchpin for an act that has defied fashion and trends and continues indifferently with a style that never tires.

Despite their ages, these were showmen who could out-pace the youngest pretenders to rock glory and whose relentless performance oozed attitude and musical prowess.

Drummer Kevin Morris and bassist Phil Mitchell were outstanding, undemonstrably getting on with their jobs of providing the rhythm and backing for Kane’s wilder vocals.

Alongside them, lead guitarist Steve Walwyn’s guitar solos were astounding and had all the verve of a player half his youthful 56 years. The musician punished his guitar in true rock ‘n roll fashion, even, at one point, wielding it upside down behind his head.

Applause for numbers that included Roxette, Down by the Jetty and Back in the Night, drove two encores as well as appreciation for the black-shirted volunteers who run the Balcombe Club and managed a coup for the venue that announced its presence on the gig circuit.