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No one could ever accuse Costello of not putting his money where his mouth is.
Good causes have reaped the benefits from his shows for the best part of a decade now.
Saturday night was no exception as he spontaneously donated part of the ticket money to CND — his apology for arriving late at the anti-nuclear rally in Barrow.
The Costello mouth was also put to caustic use where that money is earned.
He had a go at pet hates through the sharp, invective of his songs. He tongue-lashed banal disc jockeys ("Radio, Radio"), transparent pop stars ("Worthless Thing") and President Reagan ("Peace In Our Time").
Backed by The Attractions — arguably the tightest of bands — Costello tore through a large slab of his prolific output, seemingly enjoying every minute and enthralling an ecstatic audience.
No part of his repertoire was left untouched. There were the odd dodgy numbers (most noticeably "I Wanna Be Loved"), but that could only be expected in a show of that length.
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