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After two years of his world tour with keyboard accompanist Steve Nieve, which had taken in detours up a Norwegian fjord in search of a jazz festival and nights at Japanese rock festivals, Elvis Costello finally found his way to Plymouth.
And about time it was, too, coming a mere 20 years after his last appearance here, with the Attractions in 1979.
But it was kind of a homecoming, Plymouth being the setting of only his second professional gig.
Of course, Costello has written a lot of songs since then — some of them not at all bad.
"Alison," "Oliver's Army," "Radio, Radio" et al, all made an appearance here, in among tracks from just about every Costello album. What was evident was the consistent quality of these songs, from early works such as "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" to a new song ("You Lie Sweetly") which had its first public outing here.
With just Elvis, his guitar and Nieve's subtle flourishes on the piano, many of the songs were given extra space to breathe, denied on Nick Lowe's claustrophobic productions on record.
"I Want You" revealed a much sweeter melody, "Green Shirt" was incendiary and "Temptation" soared above its original Stax-style template under a new arrangement for vocal and piano.
The more relaxed atmosphere spread to Elvis himself, who launched into impromptu covers of "Jackie Wilson Said" and "Fever" and "duets" with the audience.
And lest anyone think this was just pared-down singer-songwriter stuff, a weirdly techno version of "Clubland" provided the catalyst for many in the audience to leave their seats and (nearly) dance in the aisles.
Now he knows where it is, Elvis has promised to return to Plymouth sooner next time. He is sure of a warm welcome, though whether he'll want to go through five encores again, who knows.
He may well have to, because he's bound to have written a few more classics by then — or at least recorded another cover of an easy-listening '70s number for some film or other.
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