Oh no: Glen Campbell’s just turned 74! Oh yes: he’ll be at the New Theatre on Saturday night!

Acknowledged as being one of the great session guitarists, he played with artists like Bobby Darin, Merle Haggard, Presley and Sinatra. It may be that he also formed part of Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’. He played on monster hits like You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ by the Righteous Brothers and, amazingly, the Monkees’ I’m A Believer. He is certainly on the Beach Boys’ great Pet Sounds album and stood in for Brian Wilson in concerts in the mid-60s.

Campbell’s solo breakthrough came in 1967, with a cover version of John Hartford’s classic Gentle On My Mind (Hartford said some years later that he never needed to work again because of the royalties from that one song, but the hit version was Campbell’s). Immediately off the back of that came By The Time I Get To Phoenix and, one year later, Wichita Lineman. Writer Jimmy Webb (who clearly liked featuring town names whenever he could in his songs) also came up with the huge hit Galveston.

In 1969, Glen Campbell experimented with Hollywood and was cast as the pretty cowboy in True Grit, with John Wayne. He actually did a reasonable job in the film, falling in love with the now virtually forgotten Kim Darby, dying and getting to sing the Oscar-nominated theme song There are some songs that almost become clichés, and I suppose Rhinestone Cowboy from 1975 fits into that category: it was a huge No. 1 in the States.

Campbell has lived life to the full: married four times, done drugs and alcohol. He’s toured the UK many times, and on this occasion it’s going to be very much a family affair: his son Cal’s band will be backing him, and daughters Debby and Ashley singing along. Sometimes you really, really, hope that icons can deliver, at whatever age.