Waiting for a breather between the hits was always going to be a tough job at this gig as veteran rocker Roy Wood rattled through his extensive and wide-ranging back catalogue.
Battling a sore throat he bravely battled on to the end with the amazing Shell Naylor taking on more work as the gig progressed.
We were treated to just over an hour from the musical maestro and his nine-piece band but you can't begrudge what these days most likely passes for a short set: every track's a winner.
From 60s numbers from The Move to 70s Wizzard and more recent solo projects, the repeated message from the stage was "this was number one", "this was a number two" with a big, big wall of sound pretty much from start to finish.
It's a good job Roy gets the royalties every year from that long-lived Christmas number, as playing to crowds of 300 or so at venues like the Albert Hall won't pay many bills.
Our own voices took a pounding too, during the evening as we couldn't help but join in with Angel Fingers, I Can Hear the Grass Grow, See My Baby Jive, Flowers In The Rain, Fire Brigade, Blackberry Way, a bagpipe-blowing Are You Ready To Rock, kicking off with Ball Park Incident and finishing with… well, you can guess.
"Political" disagreements may have led to his departure from ELO in its formative years and while former The Move collaborator and ELO founder Jeff Lynne plays the Arena next year Roy's doing jobbing gigs at pubs and clubs around the UK.
That's a blessing for his fans. Up close and personal is what he does best and there was real warmth both ways between the stage and the audience for the duration of this rock and roll feast as we headed off into the rain a little earlier than we might have expected.
