There was a moment during The Waterboys set when a couple of the musicians wore masks akin to those associated with Venice. It was a theatrical flourish which didn’t seem out of place in the evening.

Mike Scott, the band’s mercurial leader, has always had a penchant for the dramatic. Several songs were punctuated with moments of silence or spot-on black-outs. This was a show that had been carefully prepared.

Opening with a set of older Waterboys material from the first four 1980s albums, the band had a few magical moments for fans, including A Girl Called Johnny, and a lovely acoustic version of How Long Will I Love You from Room To Roam. “Tonight, love songs are us,” said Scott, a man who’s had his share of amorous encounters. “All we gotta do is surrender,” he sang during The Pan Within, a hymn to erotic pleasure from the band’s formative years. A tall, skinny fifty-something, Scott’s untamed hair, now silver, made him a ringer for another distinctive Irishman, Bob Geldof.

After an interval, the band returned to play songs An Appointment With Mr Yeats, last year’s Waterboys album built around the poetry of WB Yeats. Some of these concepts were too complex, although the version of Yeats’s White Birds provided a few chuckles when Steve Wickham, the band’s superb fiddle player, impersonated a seagull.

The audience were rewarded at the end with the glorious Whole Of The Moon and Fisherman’s Blues, two songs of transcendent energy and vision. Scott clearly enjoyed himself, and given the big attendance, chances are he’ll be back.