There's an old hippy saying, that goes 'if you can remember the Sixties, you weren't really there'.

The insinuation is that if you didn't spend the 'decade of love' out of your mind on illicit chemicals, then you somehow missed the point.

Alvin Lee is living proof that the flower children got it wrong.

As frontman of Ten Years After, Alvin helped provide the soundtrack to the Sixties. He and his band played Woodstock - where they joined the youth of America in turning on, tuning in and dropping out.

Indeed, Ten Years After - TYA to their fans - with their combination of blues, soul rock and jazz - were such a key part of that acid-soaked mother of festivals that when the film of the event was made, TYA's music introduced it.

Alvin is still turning out groundbreaking music. Now aged 59, his latest project sees the Nottingham-born guitarist, singer and songwriter recording an album with veteran rock and roller DJ Fontana and Alvin's childhood hero Scotty Moore - road manager and guitar player for Elvis Presley.

And on Saturday, April 16, he kicks off a new tour with a set at Oxford's New Theatre, as part of a triple-headline show alongside musical pioneer Edgar Winter and blues star Tony McPhee.

For Alvin, the tour and the album - Alvin Lee in Tennessee - are the culmination of his lifetime's work.

"It's scary!" he laughs, talking from his home near Marbella. "I'm doing a lot of new things, and have a new band - though we haven't done any gigs for four months.

"Last time I did more than four shows in a row. This time I'm doing 32!"

Does he still keep in touch with his former TYA bandmates? "I haven't seen those guys for years," he says.

And he is certainly not nostalgic for the band's 60s heyday. "I call it the bad old days.

"Boy, we had some fun. We'd stay up all night partying and doing things we shouldn't have done. But sometimes you've got to stop partying and go to bed.

"When I was at my pinnacle, I didn't enjoy it at all. Being an old hippy I preferred to have a low profile."

And what was it like playing the greatest music festival of all time? "It was a mindblower! When the storm came down I was backstage, and everyone ran out of cigarettes, so I went off for one and-a-half hours, walking round the lake.

"No one knew I was in a band. I still didn't get any cigarettes - but I got plenty of other things!"

The band carried on playing 2,000-seater gigs, but later rocked colosseums and ice hockey arenas Aficionados may remember Alvin, clad in his outlandish hippy trousers that became his trademark. But he leaves the wardrobe well alone.

He admits: "I still play three or four of the old favourites, and I've still got the trousers - I just can't fit into them!"

The show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £17.50-£19.50. Call 0870 606 3500.

By Tim Hughes