Ray Davies seemed more than a little preoccupied with the outcome of the General Election as he strolled on to the New Theatre stage on Wednesday night.

Twenty odd years of bitching and brawling in the Kinks have clearly left him with not much faith in coalitions of unequals.

Still he was in playful mood, cheerfully promising to hand a tenner to charity every time he uttered the “K” word. Fortunately, he was ready enough to fill the set with generous helpings of Kinks’ classics from Autumn Almanac to Waterloo Sunset, with the audience singing their hearts out to Lola and Dedicated Follower of Fashion.

Accompanied by only an acoustic guitarist for the first half of the show, perched on a stool, Davies looked and sounded like a man who has come to terms with his past, no where more so than when he offered a fine reworking of See My Friend.

Davies confided that he always likes to come to Oxford when he wants to feel English. But the Muswell Hillbilly reminded us of his life long love-hate relationship with America. A touching Celluloid Heroes showed his brilliant powers of observation went with him to Hollywood in the seventies, while In A Moment, from the excellent Working Man’s Cafe album, brilliantly captures New York at dusk. A blistering band version of the Tourist drew on less happy times in New Orleans, where he was the shot in the leg while chasing a thief six years ago.

A section of the show featuring his songs used in films offered a welcome opportunity to show-case early material written in his teens. And how cool is it to have one of your more obscure number featured in the Sopranos.

If 20th Century man offered a chilling glimpse of the welfare state London he was born into, Vietnam Cowboy provides a razor- sharp Davies take on the present state-of-the-western world. “Economic meltdown, nobody said it would last forever,” he sings with a sly grin. “Blow up a brand new civilization in the name of globalization.”

Those lyrics were written two years ago. After all these years, still ahead of the game and still needed in these uncertain times.

Struggling with his voice at the end of a lengthy set, Imaginary Man, another impressive recent song was chosen for the first encore. But by the end he was speaking freely of his love for the Kinks and brother Dave.

A mass sing-song of Days brought the night to a strangely emotional end. The New Theatre audience won’t quickly forget last Wednesday night, believe me.