Elvis Costello and the Attractions topped the bill at the first concert I ever attended. It was in September 1978 at Brockwell Park in Brixton and was a free gig in support of the Anti-Nazi League. Not having seen him perform live in the forty years since that day of autumn sunshine in London, there came a chance to see him again on a June evening in Oxfordshire.

The supporting acts were Nick Lowe and The Waterboys. Nick Lowe’s songs were familiar, his presence like that of an old friend. …