Christy Moore, Royal Festival Hall, London, review No gimmicks. No smarm. Just two master musicians playing and singing powerful and witty songs. Christy Moore and guitarist Declan Sinnott are terrific live performers and their musical partnership, honed for more than a decade, sounded as fresh as ever on the first of two nights at London's Royal Festival Hall, part of a UK tour. Moore, whose voice is as good as ever, barely dipped into last year's Folk Tale album except for a version of On Morecombe Bay, Kevin Littlewood's haunting song about the death of 23 Chinese men and women on the cockle beds of an English seaside resort. Old songs were dusted off and the rarely-performed Matty, a song triggered by his granny's folk legend warnings about meeting your "dark familiar," was sublime. There were appropriate nods to the great songwriters of yesteryear: the southbank setting was perfect for Ewan MacColl's Sweet Thames, Flow Softly. And, in the year of his centenary, Woody Guthrie was saluted with a version of Sacco and Vanzetti. Moore also tipped a nod to Nic Jones as the singer he first heard performing the intricate old ballad Little Musgrove. Although the Festival Hall stage is a big one for just two performers ("this great old room," said Moore) the stage was adroitly lit and changed for the mood of songs. Moore did some of his powerful social songs - Burning Times, Ordinary Man - but the overriding mood was of fun. Moore knows how to handle a crowd. He introduced the jokey song Little Honda 50 with a witty quip about Jedwood taking on the song for Ireland's Eurovision Song Contest entry. The jovial football song Joxer Goes To Stuttgart was sung to a request from Fulham's Republic of Ireland winger Damien Duff. The whole crowd joined in lusty singalong-versions of City of Chicago, Ride On, Cliffs of Doneen and the crowd-pleasing Lisdoonvarna. Moore also gave a rare outing to his drinking song Delirium Tremens, having been persuaded to revive it last week by "a persistent man of the cloth in the front row in Cardiff." Moore has added a funny new verse about telling a dancing DTs version of Michael Flatley to "feck off." To complete the fun, there was also a rousing version of Christy Hennessy's Don't Forget Your Shovel, a wry song about the experience of the Irish in 1960s England. The crowd gave a five-minute standing ovation for a consummate performer (67 this Saturday) who is still at the top of his game.