I have seen Rick Astley at The Old Fire Station, The Pavilion and now the BIC all within the space of four years and each time he has just got better and better.

He may have fallen out of love with the music business for a while but tonight made it perfectly clear that the public have never fallen out of love with the man, his music and that incredibly soulful voice.

It normally takes a while for a seated crowd to warm up and get to their feet but they were up and dancing from the opening bars of the first song to the closing refrain of the encore.

Tonight’s gig was a mixture of feel good songs with a disco beat from thirty years ago and right up to date numbers with the soulful feel of the new material from his latest offering 50.

This is a man who seems to know his place in the world and is comfortable playing songs from his whole 30-year career.

One minute the whole crowd were dancing along to 80’s pop hits Hold Me In Your Arms and Whenever You Need Somebody, the next it was a cover of Ed Sheerans' Shape Of You and then we were listening to the amazing vocal performances and lyrics of Cry For Help.

A short three song acoustic section of some of his lesser-known songs that had been requested by fans via Twitter followed.

Sailing, I'm Not Sleeping and Superman were the most popular choices and were all played from a boat (sort of) with Rick on guitar surrounded by his band.

My favourite moments were the more soulful numbers such as Cry For Help and main set closers Angels On My Side and Pray With Me and then into the encore with the sheer feel good three and a half minutes that was a crowd dancing, singing and generally going crazy for Never Gonna Give You Up.

If you have a preconception of Rick Astley as a lightweight 80's pop star then I urge you to put that aside and go and see the mature, soul singer that he has become.

You will leave appreciating an artist that has matured and is as good as nearly any other soul artist around at the moment.

Rick will always have an audience that will want to hear the old songs but it's the strength of his new material that will keep filling arenas and sustain him through the next thirty years.

I, for one, hope to see him coming back to the BIC with more new songs for many years to come.