Saint Bernard also gets an airing and Ron has a giant cardboard cut out of a Saint Bernard on stage with him whilst his drummer sports the face of another such dog on his bass drum.
The band is tight and muscular and handles Ron fluffing the lyrics to one song and wanting to restart it mid intro without any fuss.
But the show takes a particularly poignant turn when Ron performs unaccompanied firstly on the acoustic guitar and then at the piano. He doesn't look like a rock star and at times his delivery of songs he has himself written, such as Tomorrow In Her Eyes, Gold In Them Hills and Brandy Alexander, makes him sound as though everything's about to fall apart. This vulnerability is part of his charm and the reason why the audience brings him back for two encores when Ron and the band want to get away for their Glastonbury appearance the next day.
Other highlights are Strawberry Blonde and Sneak Out The Back Door. Ron finishes with a stunning Can't Get My Act Together from Carousel
One and Lebanon, Tennessee from his debut album, bookends to his career. The audience is loud in its appreciation. Ron is amongst friends and the crowd knows it is in the company of a rare and self effacing talent.
Support was provided by singer songwriter Sam Palladio, who hails from Cornwall by way of Nashville. He's in the TV show Nashville, which he managed to reference three times. He could have done with giving the audience fewer mentions of the TV career and allowed his songs to do more of the talking. There were a couple of beauties in his set which will hopefully feature on his soon to be recorded first album. Think Peter Case with additional twang.
