The return of Marc Almond was always going to be an emotional affair. The head injuries the singer sustained in the motorcycle accident that almost claimed his life in 2004 had left doubts about his ability to return to full active duty as a performer. But here he was at last, just weeks before his 50th birthday, looking remarkably unscathed as he began the first of three shows in a venue that itself has defied the odds in surviving intact.

Wilton’s Music Hall, which first opened for business in 1859, is a semi-derelict, listed building that is in the process of being restored. With its air of elegantly faded grandeur it made the perfect setting for what had been billed as “an evening of torch and romance”.

Almond swept into view to a rapturous ovation. Dressed in a smart black suit, his eyelids dusted with glitter and the familiar tattoo crawling up from under the collar of his shirt, he stood for a moment and soaked up the affection.

Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to switch on his microphone. Instead of waiting, Almond elected to perform the whole of the first number without the benefit of amplification. It was a brave gesture, but most of what he sang was simply drowned out by the pianist and guitarist who were accompanying him.

The incident set the tone for what Almond himself described at the end as a “nerve-wracking” performance, during which he fiddled compulsively with the microphone stand, and read the lyrics to some of the songs from a sheaf of papers. During Weakness for Roses, he lost his way completely and called for the accompanists to start the song again.

But here was the thing. The more Almond tied himself up in knots, the more the crowd showered him with applause and adoration. He got them to supply the marching jackboot accompaniment to Day and Night and then to sing a chant as part of a song by the Turkish star Zeki Müren. And long before he swept into a final run of favourites including St Judy, Mother Fist and I Created Me, he had them eating out of his hand.

Almond has a new album, Stardom Road, out next month, but he ventured to perform hardly any of the songs from it. An exception was The Curtain Falls, a brilliant version of which served as both mission statement and final encore. “People say I was made for this . . .And just think I get paid for this,” he sang, with a mischievous grin of disbelief on his pixie-like features.

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