When Neil Hannon, lead singer of The Divine Comedy, took to the stage at York Barbican, the adage 'The Show Must Go On' couldn’t have been more appropriate. Nursing what looked like the start of a heavy cold and a bad headache, it was never going to be a tragic comedy – even though the tracks of their 13th and possibly best album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, have a certain maudlin feel about them, detailing his reflection on late middle age.

The new album is written, arranged, and produced by Hannon and exquisitely covers his usual range of emotions: sad, funny, angry, and everything in between. Opening the evening with the lead track of the album, Achilles offered a taste of what was to come with the lyric ending with “death is the Achilles heel” – like most of Hannon’s songs that depict a weakness in an otherwise strong entity.

With his six-piece, including a keyboardist who was an adept accordion player, and the addition of a violinist, they added an even more melancholy feel to the proceedings, especially on The Last Time I Saw the Old Man, with I Want You sounding like it had been lifted from the soundtrack of a mid-sixties black and white French film. Introducing the title track of the new album as being “rather good”, few would argue with Hannon’s appraisal – the track, like the rest of the album, gets even better the more times you hear it – after just two listens, you will be addicted.

The evening was a mix of the jauntiness of the old favourites and the new tracks, though the audience needed no encouragement to stand when Something for the Weekend, Becoming More Like Alfie and National Express were played as the show reached a thrilling climax.

On a night of craftsmanship and atmosphere – Hannon and his band perfected both superbly, with the new songs fitting in at ease with the older ones, which left his fans with a smile on their face with a show that was both heartwarming and haunting.