Al Green

Review: He may have moaned all the way through his foreshortened set at Festival First Night at the weekend, but Al Green gave the State Theatre the full-length version of his prodigious talent – and all who had the aural pleasure felt mighty privileged to be on the receiving end.

If that's a little innuendo-laden an introduction for some, it's only in keeping with the gruntin' and gesturin' that the 63-year-old Reverend was doing all night from the moment he took to the stage. "You try and fit all [my songs] into 45 minutes, you gonna need some Vaseline!" he said, referencing his displeasure at the Festival First Night scheduling one last time, before taking off his sunglasses and exclaiming naughtily, "What did I just say!?"

Green was in a better mood here and he blasted out the first few numbers with impressive zeal, including L-O-V-E, Let's Stay Together and an absolutely belting Tired of Being Alone. Wearing a hugely oversized tuxedo with an emerald waistcoast on a hot night, the Green machine soon worked up a sheen. Hence the fluffy white towels on stage. Unfortunately, for a Man of the Cloth, Reverend Green doesn't seem to like using one. Instead he has the distasteful habit of using his index finger as a windscreen wiper to rid his brow of sweat and then flick the perspiration into the front row. Sitting directly in the line of fire last night? Justin Hemmes, flanked by his dad Mr John and his girlfriend Amber Le Strange, was front and centre, and got repeatedly drenched as the audience members in the rows behind recoiled in their seats.

Nevertheless it didn't put off the steady stream of women who lined up for to receive one of what must have been 30 red roses and a wet kiss from the Godbotherer of soul, with many overcome with the vapours as they giddily floated back to their seats. At times, it was borderline sleazy. And there were shades of the TV evangelist with a Pentecostal version of Amazing Grace, plenty of mentions of the Lord and requests for "Can I get an ‘oh yeah!'?".

"Some people are asking if the Reverend has still got it. Well how's this?" he asked, before hitting the highest and longest of unmistakably Al Green notes. Indeed, he was arguably at his most impressive when he walked away from the microphone and sang unamplified. His voice easily had enough power to fill the room.

His little jigs and quickstep shuffles were impressive for a man of his age. Green is more than a singer; he's an entertainer from the old school. But one of the more random components to the busy stage show were the two young dancers who flanked him with moves that looked like they'd been choreographed by someone 50 years their senior.

Green wisely stuck to his Greatest Hits and the audience lapped it up. Towards the end of his 75-minute set, Green perhaps began to flag, asking the audience to sing along to How Do You Mend a Broken Heart? to such an extent that he just provided in-fills. He began to hit the Gatorade to revive himself and he had what looked like a washbag by his side throughout.

At one point he segued into a few minutes of Al Green the Musical where he tried to stitch together a verse of various soul classics from the likes of Otis Redding, the Four Tops and Sam Cook into a Motown Medley that might have been better placed as the encore the crowd stayed in hope for, but never received. Instead he signed off with an extended version of Love and Happiness. Nevertheless, no-one walked away feeling short-changed. It was an absolute honour to see and hear a bona fide living legend in the flesh. Dan Rookwood