“Those of us who thought we knew well the iconic Purple Haze riff, were caught out by Nigel Kennedy’s Jimi Hendrix tribute - his second Hendrix gig at this venue.

We found the theme so deeply buried in the complex overlay of the violinist’s Paganini-like rendering, that we were grateful to hear it repeated, this time recognisably, as the second of the three encores demanded by the standing ovation audience.

Stunned by the solar plexus-punching delivery of the 15 minute opening number, into a meek surrender, we fell back into our seats whilst the erstwhile boy wunderkind (at 58, his punk quiff now showing a silver fox resemblance) stirred up his supporting team into a virtuosity almost equal to his own.

Discarding his electric instrument, for his precious 300 year-old Guarnini violin, he gently segued into an ecstatic, lyrical rendering of The WInd Cries Mary, which left us utterly spellbound.

Accompanied sensitively by his companions on acoustic instruments, and employing stratospheric harmonics, bird-like above the basic theme, Kennedy added a musical embroidery of baroque ornamentation. The few pensive moments of the evening were never with us for long (Kennedy slipped in a beautiful Bela Bartok folk melody with the excuse that the composer had been greatly influenced by Hendrix), for the lad’s volcanic energy surfaced again and again, through All along the Watchtower, Hey Joe and the rest, driven throughout the evening by the phenomenal power of his Polish drummer (he has a large Polish following and regularly performs with musicians from that country).

The capacity audience of Hendrix aficionados, aspiring young string players and the odd musicologist, intent on analysing the Devil’s tri-tone in Purple Haze (the Spanish Inquisition deemed the chord so wicked they banned its use), was thoroughly happy to finish an extraordinary evening as condemned sinners.

JEAN DARKE 5/5