THERE are some songs that are cast in solid gold. Don McLean’s two biggest hits, American Pie and Vincent, have left an indelible mark on popular music and kept his career rolling for decades.

When he played York Barbican last Friday night, the place had hundreds of punters eager to see the man whose posters cast him as American Troubadour.

McLean was backed by a terrific band of Nashville veterans. At times the sound was pure American AOR; close your eyes and it could have been a milder version of the E Street Band, or Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers. Two lead guitars helped give the sound its propulsion, and long-term drummer Jerry Kroon filled out the sound with both power and sensitivity.

The set was peppered with American standards. Opening with Buddy Holly’s Everyday, McLean also gave the audience a dramatic reading of Roy Orbison’s Crying and a sing-along version of The Midnight Special. These covers were well chosen and were much better than McLean’s recent songs: Waving Man, from McLean’s latest album, described an old guy in Maine who greets the traffic (you can see him on Youtube). The song was dull, and lacked any of the vulnerability that made McLean's early work so good. "He sits right there in his wheelchair," sang McLean, without the embarrassment that should accompany such a dreadful couplet. The audience, however, forgave him, and McLean marvelled several times about the enthusiastic North Yorkshire reaction.

The final moments featured Amercian Pie, a rightly acclaimed song whose jaunty nature masks a dark interior of grief, jealousy and fear about the Cold War. The crowd got to their feet to cheer McLean, and one audience member insisted on Vincent, the misty-eyed portrait of Van Gogh's tragic life, which calmed everybody down. As a celebration of American music, this concert wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good.