Coming just days after the death of Gene Pitney, this rare London show by a fellow veteran crooner gains added poignancy. Like Pitney, Neil Sedaka emerged as a pre-rock'n'roll US teen idol, was damaged by but survived the Beatles-led British invasion, and has enjoyed a five-decade career as a purveyor of sweet but schmaltzy pop nuggets.

Yet unlike Pitney, Sedaka has penned a peerless back catalogue, and tonight's show opens with a visual montage of artists for whom he has written hits, from Rosemary Clooney and Patsy Cline through to Engelbert Humperdinck, the Carpenters, Abba and Cher. Sedaka has never been hip but he is persistent: this is a man who was nominated for his first Grammy in 1962.

His presentation is equally old school. Clad in what looks like a Butlins Redcoat blazer and a perma-tanned grin, Sedaka bears a striking resemblance to a doo-wop Nicholas Parsons. Yet his clean living has paid off, and at 67 he retains the stamina and vocal precision to carry off a near three-hour show alone at the grand piano.

Part of the late 1950s/early 1960s Brill Building of conveyer-belt pop songwriters, Sedaka brought a forensic efficiency to his craft. Songs like 1959's Oh! Carol, Calendar Girl and Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen evoke a lost, simpler world of Dansettes, ra-ra skirts and hyperventilating pop powered by gauche adolescent enthusiasms.

The honky-tonk Love Will Keep Us Together is a reminder that Sedaka was a major influence on Elton John, to whose Rocket label he briefly signed in the 1970s. Then, after receiving an award for penning the most popular song of the 21st Century to date, (Is This the Way to) Amarillo, Sedaka is joined on stage by its singer, the preternaturally dapper Tony Christie, for a duet. Cutting edge? No. Big fun? Yes.