It is 30 years since Marc Bolan died and 60 years since he was born, a double-anniversary whammy that cheerleaders of the 1970s glam-rock icon have marked with unusually concerted vigour. In addition to the screening of a TV documentary and the release of a new, double-CD compilation, Marc Bolan: T. Rex Greatest Hits, friends and fans of the musician staged a gala concert over the weekend, celebrating his musical legacy.

The show was built around an efficient performance by T. Rextasy, the tribute band led by Danielz, a singer, guitarist and Bolan lookalike who has dedicated his life to servicing the memory of the man he calls “the greatest rock star of the 20th century”. While you might take issue with his analysis, you could hardly doubt Danielz’s commitment to the cause of his idol. With his corkscrew hair, elfin features and tight, candy-pink trousers, he looked and sounded uncannily like Bolan as the band embarked on an opening sequence of T. Rex’s less universally remembered hits, including The Groover, Celebrate Summer and New York City.

A succession of “star” guests and wellwishers were wheeled on, all genuine admirers of Bolan, no doubt, but many of them plainly unused to the glare of the mainstream spotlight. The well-meaning bluster of Eric Hall, the compere, set a distinctly end-of-the-pier tone to the proceedings, an impression reinforced by the onstage announcement of the winner of a raffle to secure the prize of a Gibson guitar; Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry sang I Love To Boogie, while peering at the lyrics on a crumpled piece of paper held in his hand; and a former member of John’s Children (Bolan’s group before T. Rex) inadvisedly took off his T-shirt and clambered shakily on to the PA speakers as he laid into a version of Desdemona that did anything but fly.

Other contributors, including Dr Robert from the Blow Monkeys, Clem Burke from Blondie, Shaking Stevens and Howie Casey, the saxophonist who played on many of the original T. Rex hits, gave a more polished account of themselves, but contributed little to the wow factor. The producer and occasional bass player, Tony Visconti who conducted a female string section going by the ingenious name of Dirty Pretty Strings, unveiled a superb arrangement of Cosmic Dancer that had lain in his bottom drawer for 35 years.

But it fell to Marc Almond to provide the evening’s only genuine touch of star quality. He revealed that he had been prompted to change the spelling of his own name thanks to his adolescent fascination for Bolan, and performed epic versions of Teenage Dream and Dandy in the Underworld before overseeing the show’s piece de resistance.

Joined onstage by the singer and songwriter Gloria Jones – who is the mother of Bolan’s son Rolan, and was the woman behind the wheel of the car in which Bolan died – Almond sang a duet of his biggest hit, Tainted Love, which was written by Jones. As she and Almond traded lines from the bittersweet lyric, their faces inches apart, the standard of the performance was rather beside the point at a moment laden with such emotional and historical resonance.

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