JOE Brown tells this amusing anecdote about how Larry Parnes tried to force him into changing his name to one more suited to the impresario’s ever-expanding clutch of adolescent rock boys.

After all, there was Billy Fury, Vince Eager, Marty Wilde, Johnny Gentle… so how about it Joe, don’t you want to be famous?

Nah, said cockney Joe. He’d stick to his real monicker. And if Parnes didn’t like it, then he could lump it.

Well, he always was a cheeky lad, that Joe. And 57 years or so later – incredible when you think about it – nothing much seems to have changed.

This concert was the second of sell-out consecutive shows and bore testimony to the enduring popularity of a man who has skilfully adapted not so much to changing times but to audience expectations.

For example, the great hits of long ago occupy a relatively small section of his present show. Sea of Heartbreak, That’s What Love Will Do, A Picture of You are indeed the classics and the crowd would certainly feel cheated if the most famous crew cut in the world didn’t deliver the goods.

But these days, Joe has unashamedly returned to his roots. It’s now called world music, but back then, the music of America’s huddled masses was providing rich pickings for youthful guitar slingers the length and breadth of Britain.

There are many affectionate, backward glances to blues, old timey music and – true to his roots – he can still belt out music hall cum Dixieland-influenced numbers such as The Darktown Strutters’ Ball and I’m Henry the Eighth with complete conviction.

Equally adept on acoustic and electric guitars, Joe’s prowess on the ukulele also harks back to a time when this instrument provided much of the entertainment in British homes.

And in many ways, you could say that the uke is such a cheeky little chap, perfectly echoing the character of its player.

Then there’s his son Pete – a fabulously skilled dobro and electric slide player – who proved time and again that familiar old adage concerning chips and old blocks.

His playing was truly out of this world, bottleneck licks blistering the ceiling. Make no mistake, if the walls of the Swan could have talked then they would undoubtedly have been screaming for mercy, such was the power of those six strings.

So what a night and what a show. For there is no doubt that if he were alive today, Larry Parnes would feel justifiably proud of his boy… and maybe smile at the memory of the impertinent young whippersnapper who had defied him all those years ago yet had gone on to find a permanent place in all our hearts.