Gig review: James Taylor

JAMES Taylor didn't get where he is today by fixing what ain't broke. Surveying a crowd of 4,000 adoring fans in that well-known intimate singer-songwriters' haunt, Hall 4 of the SECC – complete with twin giant screens flanking the stage – the avuncular, professorial 63-year-old made the surprisingly frank admission that, while he might technically have some 150 songs to his credit, "actually I've written the same ten songs 15 times".

Those less enchanted with the comfort zone of his oeuvre might point out that he hasn't even done that of late – his last two studio albums have been covers projects, while his most recent is last year's live release with Carole King, recorded in 2007. For the faithful, though – the force of whose numbers must be acknowledged – his appeal clearly lies in that very predictability, and, to be fair, the serene consistency of Taylor's singing.

That being the case, he gave the crowd exactly what they wanted, accompanied on this visit by an expertly restrained four-piece band and three backing singers: an array of emollient, warmly melodic, slow and mid-tempo ballads, whose emotional register shaded imperceptibly from glad to mellow, to wistful to melancholy. Punctuated by occasional covers and funk-lite jauntier numbers, they included all the key hits – Fire and Rain, Carolina In My Mind, Country Road, Sweet Baby James, rounded off (of course) with You've Got A Friend – and, for most of the audience, evidently ticked all the boxes.