Over the course of the next hour Gough recreates every aspect of his outstanding debut album 'The Hour Of Bewilderbeast', even down to loving interpretations of the incidental musical interludes. Fronting a six-piece band, Damon Gough is consistently choked up by the crowd reactions to these tracks and it's clear that his slide out of the public eye has weighed a little more heavily than he would have you believe.
It's no surprise that successful singles like 'Once Around The Block' prompt the biggest reactions of the night but all of the album tracks are greeted like old friends and the singalong which heralds the arrival of 'Pissing In The Wind' doesn't seem all that out of place.
The second half of Gough's set includes some touching dedications to close family, not least his daughters and their mother, alongside some of the finest Badly Drawn Boy songs. It's difficult to see Gough ever topping the peaks he scaled during some parts of his 'About A Boy' soundtrack and a handful of those tracks are present in tonight's extended encore. A final emotional thank you and an unexpected karaoke version of Bruce Springsteen's 'Thunder Road' and the Manchester crowd spill out on to the summer streets. Tonight was a fitting celebration of one of the city's finest sons.