After more than 45 years in the business, Joe Jackson is a dab hand at ensuring an audience receives all it wants from a live gig. There’s the hits interspersed with a bit of conversation, there’s a few lesser-known songs, there’s cover versions - and there’s often a surprise or two.

This concert at Town Hall may have been a surprise to some because it was definitely an evening of two halves. In the first, Jackson performed as himself, solo on piano, taking us back in time with songs from the past few decades.

Then, after a short pause, the stage filled with nine musicians, a London street backdrop and Jackson dressed in frock coat and top hat as the fictional persona Max Champion performing a series of early 1900s’ music hall style songs.

Jackson, who was born in nearby Burton-on-Trent, has never been one to stay in a comfort zone and this second part of the show was based on his 2023 album What a Racket! in which he wrote these heritage-style numbers and sings as Champion.

Towards the end of the first part of the gig, Jackson explained his fascination for music hall songs as well as playing covers of a couple of them. For him, the century-old music hall planted the seeds of today’s music not to mention developing that unique nod, nod, wink, wink style of British humour.

You have to hand it to Jackson, he certainly got into the role of Max Champion and the songs are not only in the heritage style, they also use clever word play which still succeed in bringing in current themes not least Health and Safety which decries the modern obsession with protection.

There’s also plenty of comedy in songs such as The Bishop and the Actress in which Jackson rolls out the double entendres and Think of a Show! – A Thespian’s Lament in which he takes on a second role as a pontificating actor.

Now aged 70, Jackson has incredible energy as he takes on the persona of Champion and he is ably supported by a team of talented musicians who also play up their music hall characters.

All this over-acting and fun comes after what is a much calmer first half as Jackson, and piano, take the audience through a string of favourites including You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want), Steppin’ Out, Real Men and It’s Different for Girls.

Dressed in blue jacket and shirt, he is a hugely talented pianist who plays the numbers with apparent ease, holding the audience in his spell. His songs create short narratives and scenes which shine the light on the ordinary but give them just that touch of the extraordinary.

In-between he is chatty, explaining a little of the times when he wrote the songs, teasing out intros to the hits and telling us he loves The Kinks’ Waterloo Sunset before embarking on a cover.

For the encore, Jackson combines both his natural and Champion’s persona giving the audience a punchy music hall version of his hit Is She Really Going Out With Him? and concluding with a rambunctious Worse Things Happen at Sea.

As a concert, it was a tour de force of styles, packed with talent and energy. He may have been in the business nearly five decades but on the strength of this gig Jackson is not sitting on his laurels or giving any less than 100 per cent.

Five stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes on Monday 14 October at Birmingham Town Hall