I'd never before so much as been to Birmingham, let alone its recently refurbished Town Hall. I have to say, though, that the building's a stunner. Very impressive on the outside, with its soaring columns illuminated against the night sky, and possibly even more so on the inside where there's obviously been a tad more than a quick lick of eggshell emulsion.

The good impressions, however, were soon knocked for six by what was a shockingly bad sound mix at the beginning of the proceedings; it really had me wondering if any sort of sound check had been conducted. Things improved, though, and the night turned into a good 'un - worth the drive from south London.

The en masse "Happy Birthday" as Peggy took the stage at 7.30 was really nice, as was the procession of guests that joined him throughout the evening. I enjoyed all of 'em and it was nice to see that lots of his old mates had not been forgotten and seemed to relish the opportunity of playing on that stage on that evening.

It was also nice to see the usually somewhat austere - dare I say seemingly humourless? - Steve Gibbons not only forgetting the lyrics during a brief set by a re-formed The Uglys, but hamming it up
and eventually laughing so much he very nearly couldn't carry on.

Another of Peggy's old bands, The Exception, was represented by a swinging "Sweet Georgia Brown" featuring some rather nifty guitar from Roger Hill (who, during the '70s, enjoyed a short stay as Fairport's guitarist in one of that band's many incarnations).

For the reunion of The Crawdaddies, Dave Peace did a very creditable job on vocals and piano, and Peggy's lead guitar work was a lot, lot better than he'd have had us believe with his self-deprecatory words beforehand. This line-up also featured Peggy's favourite bassist, his son Matt.

Ian Campbell, one of Peggy's early employers, and Steve Ashley featured for a song apiece, and Dave Swarbrick and, all the way from America, Jerry Donahue stepped up to the plate for a couple of old Fairport favourites - "Dirty linen" and "The hens march . . .".

The current Fairport quintet gave us "Wait for the tide to come in" before the first half was wound up with Peggy being joined by Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and, all the way from America, Doane Perry. I just wish the Peggy-era Tull had been a little more adventurous in its choice of material. I would much rather have heard, for example, "Too old to rock and roll, too young to die" and "Songs from the wood" than the all-too-frequently played "Bouree" and "Locomotive breath".

After the break it was the turn of David Hughes. I've got loads of time for David Hughes and was glad to see him given a slot but wish the sound had been good enough to allow me to be able to discern all the lyrics of the song he'd written specially for the evening. What I was able to make out seemed to be up to his usual highly humorous standard.

Hughes was followed by another of Fairport's winter tour support artists, Steve Tilston. A great songwriter, he sang "Here comes the night" and, a song he wrote specifically for Fairport, "Over the next hill". Yet another wintour support followed - Anna Ryder was joined by her daughter Oonah for a lovely "Dance with me".

A quick fiddle set featuring Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie and Tom Leary, was followed by one of the evening's highlights. Beth Nielson Chapman's reading of "Solo" was a delight. She left the stage to be replaced by Dan Ar Bras - he was certainly one I'd not considered before the gig. He reprised another Denny song, "Rising for the moon" in a line-up that included Dave Swarbrick and, still all the way from you know where, Jerry Donahue.

Croydon's own Ralph McTell provided his usual 100% wonderfulness on a couple of songs before Peggy was joined by PJ Wright, both on ukulele, and yet another Fairport support act, Tiny Tin Lady, on backing vox and brilliantly choreographed, cricket-themed dance steps, for "Linseed memories".

The show was wrapped up with The Dylan Project rattling through a combo of "Like a rolling stone" and "Twist and shout". And Steve Gibbons remembered all the words.

Inevitably, there was an encore; two songs - Steve Ashley and Fairport giving "Best wishes" an outing and then, huge surprise, "Meet on the ledge" sung by a packed stage which seemed to feature everybody who'd appeared throughout the evening except Ian Anderson, or did I miss him standing behind Doane Perry?

If there was one disappointment, it was one of omission - the non-appearance of one of the giants of Fairport's past, Richard Thompson, but I suppose one can't be greedy, he gave more than his fair share at Cropredy.

That moan aside, I had a bloody good time and it was great to see so many prepared to mark Peggy's birthday - especially as none of 'em looked like being able to prise a brass farthing out of the old sod in way of payment!