We got a bit of light and shade in the form of Good Year For The Roses, Momofuku's Flutter and Wow and The Spell That You Cast before Oliver's Army, I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea, Beyond Belief, which almost was, a raucous blast of Clubland, and Stella Hurt to finish off the main set.
Pre-show discussions about the set list had predicted an acoustic solo mini-set somewhere along the way, which is the way the encores started. A chatty introduction was followed by a warm reading of Jimmy Standing In The Rain, before bringing out the Secret Sisters to provide harmonies on Slow Drag With Josephine.
Their opening set had delivered a charming batch of retro country numbers, and if their contributions to Josephine seemed a little tentative, Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used To Do? showed off both the Sisters' delicious harmonies and Costello's long held but hardly secret bent towards the country end of the spectrum.
The Sisters gone, out came The Imposters along with one of Costello's favourite guitars for a seated stroll through Luxembourg, before the volume and intensity went back through the roof for Monkey To Man and I Hope.
A seventeen number main set followed by a five song encore would, under normal circumstances be about par for the course for most acts, but we're talking Costello here, and the man's known for multiple rather than single encores, so they were back out for another go, starting with a rocking and substantially rewritten National Ransom, which ran more or less straight into a rumbustious King of America and a predictable final one-two punch (as one was needed by this stage!) of Pump It Up and What's So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding?