Yet he quickly settled in, launching into If the World's Just a Living Room, I'm in the Hall and transformed his signature song Babylon into a rousing community singalong.

His Greatest Hits tour delivered a new collection of chart entries mixed with a back catalogue spanning almost a decade. Sensitiv-ity and romance contrasted with crowd-pleasing muscular rock chords.

He's a versatile figure with songs embracing everything from Brit-folk to lush harmonic pop, spare piano ballads to bluesy R&B, even a hint of skiffle in a diverse set.

The whole is delivered with professional aplomb: fine musicianship, stunning lighting, sets and sculpted sound, all showing off Gray's emotional delivery to great effect.

Yet for all his prolific output and multi-million sales, Gray has never quite reached the premier league of singer-songwriters.

He's up around the fringes of the championship play-offs, to be honest. Yet in a weekend that saw sporting giant-killing back in fashion, maybe that's not such a bad place to be.