“COULDN’T find the iron then?” cracked Joe as his son Pete sloped on stage at Hayes’ Beck Theatre wearing a very creased pair of jeans and a ruffled work shirt.

The joke instantly broke the ice and had the pleasingly large crowd all warmed up and ready to be entertained by the 72-year-old Cockney rocker.

They even forgave his cheeky greeting of “‘Ello ‘Arrow!” which was followed by Joe and his four-piece band ripping into the opening number, Burl Ives’ Big Rock Candy Mountain, with gusto.

Lauded across the years by both peers and fans as a true ‘musician’s musician’ there’s far more to Joe than just a broad grin and an impressive head of hair.

He brings talent and versatility to everything he sings and nothing demonstrates his depth and range better than the release of his most recent album.

Adopting a faux West Country accent to sound like his long-time friend Roger Cook, Joe explained how he’d always loved the ukulele and decided to make a whole album dedicated to it ‘before someone else did’.

He joked the hardest part was coming up with the name The Ukulele Album before performing a trio of tracks from it Tickle My Heart, Mr Blue Sky (ELO fans prepare to be amazed!) and Hula Girl.

The last one complimented the instrument perfectly as it does bring a Hawaiian flavour to every tune he plays on it.

As the fivesome belted out Lay Down Sally it was hard to remember you were actually paying to attend the show as it was so relaxed and chilled out it felt more like being priviledged guests at a secret jam session.

Joe is definitely not one to hog the limelight and he willingly moved aside to allow Phil the drummer to step out from behind his square drum kit to amaze us with his rendition of Devil in Disguise by Elvis.

Side two of the show, which Joe had promised would feature all his hits, got off to a blistering pace with the classic I’m Henery The Eighth, I Am - so much so he had to apologise and say he wouldn’t be keeping that energy up the whole time.

After his biggest UK hit A Picture Of You went down a storm, it was versatility time again as Joe first performed U2’s I Still Haven’t Found on a violin followed by Ace Of Spades by Motorhead on the ukulele.

One can only wonder what Lemmy would say if anyone asked him to do the same!

Not only does Joe talk to his guitars, but he loves to encourage others to excel with them too. One of the most famous of these was former Beatle George Harrison who he first met in 1962 while they were supporting his tour.

Joe performed at George’s tribute concert in 2001 and told us he liked to keep his music alive by always performing one of his songs at gigs - this time it was the epic Any Road.

Lead guitarist Ben then gave Joe a well-earned rest by taking over singing duties on Ronnie Laine’s How Come? He did a superb job and the audience acknowledged this with a wild round of applause.

All too soon it was finale time with a double treat of Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson and You Ain’t Too Old To Rock N Roll before the much anticipated encore; Joe’s other big it I’ll See You In My Dreams.

Before singing it he joked that thanks to its popularity as a funeral song his music performed on Holy ground more often than Cliff Richard.

This rockin’ feel good hit of an evening was only the fifth stop in a 40 date tour and I heartily recommend you visit http://www.joebrown.co.uk/2013tour/ and find a venue near you to catch this legendary artist.

Just don’t forget to iron your shirt before you go!