Thin as a stick and clad in trademark black, Lou Reed proved himself one of the more enduring rock legends at the circus tent in Liss Ard on Saturday night, his only European appearance of the year.
Playing acoustically with backing from an accomplished three-piece band, the New York singer trawled through three decades of material to stitch together a show which happily blended old and new.
While another rock icon might have churlishly shunned the more familiar tunes from his canon, Reed seemed happy enough to summon up some blasts from the past. He opened with the sweet but sinister Velvet Underground chestnut, I'll Be Your Mirror, following this with a quick run through the now over-exposed Perfect Day.
The middle section of the show concentrated largely on fresher efforts, and elegantly-crafted tunes such as Turning Time Around offered firm evidence that Reed has lost none of his famously acerbic nous.
Reed is very much an artist of place, and his work cannot be divorced from the New York culture which nurtures it. He remains the master of the sardonic Big Apple putdown: "I don't want to talk to you", he sang at one point. "You lack drama."
The show dipped and soared somewhat, notable peaks including a fiercely-growled Dirty Boulevard and a sassy take on Vicious.
There were three encores, classics all. Sweet Jane had venom and bite, while Satellite of Love had its usual inflection subtly altered but kept its sugary feel. Finally, inevitably, we took A Walk on the Wildside.