Reg Little enjoys a live wire performance from Jeff Beck at Oxford's New Theatre

Jeff Beck sits in fifth place in Rolling Stone magazine’s table of all-time guitar greats. But it is doubtful that any of the guitarists still going in that top 100 listing could deliver the kind of performance Beck treated the audience to on Saturday.

Come to think of it, it is difficult — perhaps with the exception of Richard Thompson in 2011 — to recall anyone playing Oxford in the last 40 years close to matching the technical brilliance of Beck’s guitar playing.

As he approaches his 70th birthday, these are busy times for Beck . Having played arenas with another members of the Yardbirds Holy Trinity, Eric Clapton, he has been performing with ex-Beach Boy Brian Wilson, an experience that predictably was not fun, fun, fun. This summer Beck is back in the US touring with ZZ Top.

Rumours of a Far East influenced new album may have led some to fear an evening of self indulgence in Oxford. Happily, it was a beautifully paced set, allowing us to lap up a guitarist, who in the same song can display power and delicacy, tone and melody, light and shade.

Highlights included a majestic cover of the Beatles’ A Day in the Life, perhaps as a tribute to Fabs’ producer George Martin, who oversaw Beck’s Blow By Blow album. Then there was Beck’s take on Danny Boy, a tender version of Jimi Hendrix's greatest song Little Wing and a nod to his blues roots with Rollin’ and Tumblin’ as an encore.

While record his sales hardly rival the likes of Clapton, Beck continues to collect Grammys like Abba once collected number one singles. As a live performer he is now assisted by powerhouse drumming from Jonathan Joseph, who it turns out is married to Joss Stone’s mother. Bass player and vocalist Rhonda Smith is equally well connected having toured extensively with Prince. You certainly do not get through the Paisley Park auditions without being confident behind an instrument and microphone and perhaps one of the show's two disappointments was that we did not hear more of her fine vocals.

It was also a shame not more of Oxford young budding guitarists in the audience. They will never see Hendrix or Duane Allman play live, but last Saturday they could have relished the remarkably unfaded artistry of Jeff Beck.