Always refusing to be captive to his past, the Modfather focused heavily on his most recent album, with nine numbers from 22 Dreams.
They're terrific songs, soon to be live classics, but it did mean some great albums (Wild Wood, Illumination etc) were left out or barely touched.

But given the great man's vast back catalogue, it would be difficult to please everyone 100 per cent. The gorgeous You Do Something To Me was there, as was the brilliant Broken Stones, plus a blast from the Style Council days with Shout From The Top, all superbly done.
Also thrown in were three or four teasers from a new album out next spring - tracks which suggest that the hot vein of form he hit with 22 Dreams continues unchecked.

Porcelain Gods was given epic treatment, and All I Wanna Do and One Bright Star were the pick of the 22 Dreams tracks - all delivered with characteristic Weller style and swagger.

But predictably, as ever, it was the Jam that was the icing on the cake.
It was a great shame that Weller didn't finish off, as he so often does, with Town Called Malice, but maybe that's being greedy. Pretty Green brought back those heady Jam days, and Strange Town and Start were crackers, just as they always have been.

Put it altogether (even without the tracks personal choice might have demanded - Sunflower, Hung Up, The Changingman etc), and it all underlined what a towering figure Weller has been for the past 30 and more years. He's been the soundtrack to our lives - and boy, has he enriched them.

Phil Hewitt.