King Kink's mighty Meltdown sound

His 10 days ended as they had begun, with a greatest hits concert by the Kinks man. This time it had bells on, specifically a choir and orchestra so large that there were nearly as many people on stage as in the audience.

As is now standard for artists of a certain vintage, he opted to play his best-loved album in full first off. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, not a hit on its 1968 release, has come to represent the best example of the band's deliberately parochial strain of rock 'n' roll.

Davies jigged with his shirt hanging out like the last dancer at a wedding reception, his swathe of musicians treating the songs with a greater sense of fun than reverence. Last Of The Steam Powered Trains chugged along impressively with the choir adding drama to its bluesy riff. Animal Farm was improved by bold string flourishes, as was a Big Sky that sounded as huge as its subject matter.

Sillier numbers such as Phenomenal Cat and the Noel Coward stylings of All Of My Friends Were There were rendered less throwaway by the ramped-up production. It was a lovely touch to turn People Take Pictures of Each Other into a cameraphone moment.

The second half was a battle between songs that were improved by all the extra musicians (Dead End Street's shouted chorus, Shangri-La's long build-up) and those that needed no embellishment (You Really Got Me's proto-punk bluster).

But classics are classics whether delivered solo or by an army, and Davies has dozens of them.

Meltdown: Ray Davies/ London Philharmonic Orchestra /Crouch End Festival Chorus
Festival Hall
SE1