Graham Nash LIVE REVIEW: Hollies legend rocks debut solo Salford concert

Nash acknowledges this almost apologetically in the first moments that he comes onstage at The Lowry Theatre for a sell-out homecoming show.

For the faithful who followed the Hollies from their days in the pubs and clubs of Manchester and the North to their time as one of the UK’s best-selling record bands (before Nash disappeared into the California sun with David Crosby and Stephen Stills), there are plenty of moments for nostalgia – Nash’s voice, the diamond-sharp trademark it has always been, simply erases the decades as he rolls through Hollies classics such as Bus Stop, On A Carousel, King Midas in Reverse and Carrie Anne.

Playing with just a guitarist (Shane Fontayne) and a keyboard player (Todd Caldwell), there is nowhere onstage for Nash to hide, no supporting cast or laser show to paper over any cracks.

Onstage, he is pretty much exposed and oddly enough, for a man used to performing in a collective (as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, one of the biggest-grossing bands in the world) he seems very much at ease baring his soul and looking into the eyes of his audience.

His soft paeans of romantic love such as Sleep Song, I Used to be A King and Myself at Last are very much at home in the intimacy of The Lowry’s space as too are his great protest songs, Military Madness (“it’s crazy I’m still having to sing this song after nearly 50 years”) and his prophetic hymn to the plight of the great whales, Wind on The Water.

Peppered with hits from his CSN catalogue (Marrakesh Express, Just A Song Before I Go) and a cover of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life, the evening closes with Nash’s two most famous songs, Teach Your Children and his love-letter to Joni Mitchell, Our House.

There are three standing ovations.

Not a bad debut in your hometown for a 76-year old.