With their lively fun music, which has rock, blues, jazz, Cajun and, it seemed, even a dash of country rhythms in the colourful cocktail, and songs with spirited, spikey lyrics that tell a multitude of social stories, it had all the air of a pub jam session.

This isn't EastEnders – the Musical, as some might suspect, but a truly hefty belt of the genre of the London music scene that has picked up the tag of rockney and which those from the capital, or followers of it, wear like a badge of the region.

Chas and Dave are, however, very much an acquired taste.

The dynamic duo – though appearing laid-back they do put a mighty effort into their performance – showed their immense expertise as guitar players and Chas is also a great rattler of the keyboards.

With their incessant sing-songy beat, great songs and distinctive voices together in the same equation it is not surprising they have had success, and it was good to hear in the first half the tales of how their songs evolved and memories of the characters that influenced their early years.

Chas is an exuberant, natural chatterer and raconteur, with Dave the stepped-back character.

It all had the makings of a really entertaining show but it fell down badly due to a sound man that had no idea of how to turn the sound switch DOWN.

You have to expect the regulo to be turned up with rock music, it goes with the territory, but this show, particularly in the second half which should have been a super jaunt down Memory Lane of many of their major hits, was so ridiculously loud it was a blatant assault on the ears.

The result was something akin to a black hole that sucked in and scrambled lyrics to the point that they became no more than a garbled pudding of noise.

The question to ask about acts such as these that have a CV stretching over several decades is are they just rehashing age-old material and memories for a captive audience and camp followers that will lap it up, and earn a lucrative pay day to bump up the retirement fund, or are they genuine performers for today?

Chas and Dave unequivocably fall into the latter with their music seeming as fresh as ever. But then, perhaps, it is a unique sound that defies ageing and will continue to be popular for as long as it can be hawked around the stages and halls.