WALLS of video screens, pyrotechnics, searchlights and wall-to-wall PA systems were somewhere else tonight as four men were ushered out with torches like a cinema visit of yesteryear.

One small truck had delivered a tiny set-up for the four piece that could have fit comfortably in the Victoria Vaults; a corral of monitors invited us in for an intimate get-together.

A square of carpet around bass player Richard Cousins to play barefoot was as lavish as production was getting tonight. It was clear that this was a "Come on over and we’ll tell some stories" evening and we accepted the invitation.

Huggy Bear famously said in Starsky & Hutch "the black don’t crack" and never could that be more true as Cray, now 65, still looks like ever the Strong Persuader. He must have a portrait up in the attic more Dorian Cray than Gray.

Tonight the Barbican felt the most intimate I have ever seen it, despite being three quarters full: a reverse Tardis, big on the outside, but tiny on the inside.

Tight band, tight set-up and you could hear a pin drop. With highlights of Right Next Door, Shiver, the best ever Bill Withers cover I have heard – The Same Love That Made Me Laugh – and a beautiful tribute to Tony Joe White, who died on October 24, this wasn’t an obvious greatest hits setlist. Instead, Cray took a whistle-stop tour through styles, feels and stories past and present with a masterclass in light and shade. "Everything is funky in its own way," he said. He was so right.

The band smiled all night as if in a rehearsal room jamming and laughing together. We just felt lucky. Cray's voice is as soulful as anyone and his  solos are sublime. It is hard to see the join between man and guitar.

So why do the band smile so much? Easy...they get to listen to themselves making this fantastic music every night and that’s their job!