TEN years on from Back to Bedlam it was back to Wolverhampton for former Army captain turned balladeer James Blunt.

He might not be everyone’s cup of tea but the ranks of a sold-out audience showed he commands unswerving loyalty among his corps of fans.

He opened with Face the Sun from current album Moon Landing. Appropriately enough James and his band were dressed, astronaut like, in flight suits to reflect the title while images from decades of space exploration formed an ever-changing backdrop to the show.

Material from Moon Landing featured throughout proceedings, with Miss America, his sorrowful tribute in the wake of the early passing of Whitney Houston, particularly poignant.

Since his early success he has now compiled a wide body of work showing more range than he is given credit for.

Refreshingly for someone who comes under so much fire from sniffy critics he joins in with the joke, saying guys have been dragged along to the gig by their girlfriends and he only has two fast songs among the miserable ones.

That’s not quite so and there is no hint of misery as he strums along on his ukulele for jolly sing-along ditty Postcards and delivers Heart to Heart in up-tempo vein.

Bonfire Heart is likely to become a recurring concert favourite, its refrain simple yet hard to resist.

No James Blunt event would be complete without You’re Beautiful yet it did not now seem so fundamental to the set as it once did, again demonstrating he has been allowed to move on.

In more sombre mood, Carry You Home is a gut-wrenching lament for loss. You can’t help thinking this song, if recorded by someone more fashionable, might be a highly regarded standard in the league of Robbie Williams’ Angels.

Wisemen, So Long, Jimmy and 1973 from the back catalogue all prove as popular as ever while Blue on Blue from Moon Landing is set to endure as a favourite in the making.

As the evening draws to a close there is time for Stay the Night, which many among the audience might well have done had the ex-officer not had to metaphorically say dismissed.