First a word as a working man who lives in Bethnal Green to the management of The Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. “£3 for a can of Guinness!! You’re having a fakhing laugh!!!”

If you were to notice Seasick Steve hanging around a local primary school you would call the police but he offers a bit of comfort to those of us who hold on to the hope that one day we will be acknowledged as great musical talents. It’s only in the past year or so that he has really hit the big time despite being born in 1941. Maybe a gig in Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club is stretching the meaning of “big time” but he has been getting a lot of press, TV and radio exposure – depending on what you read and listen to. On the other hand he has played in the Royal Albert Hall and is playing the 5000 capacity Hammersmith Apollo in January.

Apart from the bit where he ends up living in Norway Seasick’s biography is that of the archetypal hobo troubadour with spells riding on trains, working as a cowboy and all those sorts of jobs that are probably much duller than they seem but sound sexy when you do them in America. The music recalls Howlin Wolf or Lightning Hopkins and listening to him play you can’t help but think that Jack White’s whole career has been built on one evening watching one of Steve’s shows. He bridges the gap between the Blues players of the 1920s, Hendrix and The White Stripes.

This was one of those rare evenings when you buy a ticket without having bought the record just because the show is nearby. It exceeded every expectation most of the audience spent the evening with huge inane grins on their faces. It was that good. Steve has some way to go before earning the “consummate professional” label. He’s the first musician I’ve ever seen accidentally switch off his own amp and spend ten minutes trying to work out why there was no sound. A three man band demolishing a bottle of Jack Daniels does not make for suaveness but by Christ it adds to the evening’s exhilaration.

It’s a minor miracle that this man has survived to produce music but you’d be a damned fool not to get a ticket if he plays near you. Have a look at the video which is pretty long but he explains how he got famous.