There’s something quite disconcerting about looking at a sea of grumpy old men with smiles on their faces.

So it was at the Grand Opera House, where Wishbone Ash took a few hundred fifty-somethings back to a time when they wore their hair long and their jeans flared.

Support band The Hamsters, a pub rock trio, don’t take themselves too seriously, but they have earned themselves a cult following through years of touring and no little talent for tightly-played tunes. The blues-dominated set only really came to life at the end with a blistering cover of ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man, and more of the same would have gone down better.

Only guitarist/vocalist Andy Powell remains from the original Wishbone Ash line-up that became one of the biggest rock bands in the world in the early seventies, but he has recruited well in twin lead axeman Jyrki “Muddy” Manninen, bassist Bob Skeat and drummer Joe Crabtree to preserve that distinctive Ash sound.

There’s no messing, here. Powell gives the largely male punters what they’ve come to hear – The King Will Come, Persephone and Sometime World from the glory days mingled with newer offerings that could never compete for the crowd’s affections.

In an explosive finale, we were treated to the epic Phoenix, played with aplomb and verve. Intricate guitar work bounced around relentless drumming in a crescendo of sound that finally brought many people to their feet. The band returned for a couple of encores – Blowin’ Free and Ballad Of The Beacon – before heading to the foyer to sign autographs, pose for pictures and flog a few CDs and DVDs.

Powell thanked the crowd of several hundred for turning out in such numbers in hard times, enabling Wishbone Ash to continue touring twice a year. This audience thought it was money well spent.