Long a profound musical influence to many, Edwyn Collins has likewise become a source of very human inspiration since his return after a haemorrhagic stroke almost 10 years ago. Don't Shilly Shally runs the title of the song the Edinburgh-born ex-Orange Juice singer will eventually close with tonight, rising from his stool and exiting with an unbowed wave of his walking stick as the band play out – an appropriate sign-off for a man evidently in no mood to mess about. Later this week, Collins' eighth solo LP, Understated, will vie for the Scottish album of the year award, and a moving documentary about his illness, The Possibilities Are Endless, is currently screening at international film festivals.
As is typical of his post-recovery live shows, the show is full of life-affirming stuff, packing in material spanning his career, all unfussily performed – from new numbers such as the north soul-imbued Dilemna to early Orange Juice singles including Blue Boy, a song that started Collins' career 34 years ago, not half a mile from this venue, in the crummy flat once home to Postcard Records. His first-rate band includes former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, along with guitarists Andy Hackett (ex-of Rockingbird) and Colorama's David Page – players who surely can't fail to love their jobs knowing that in quick succession they can crank out the scratchy Chic-inspired disco-funk of what might be post-punk's most definitive single, Rip It Up, and then the unmistakable fuzzy riff on A Girl Like You.
Collins' slow, methodical speech betrays the scars of his stroke, and also a matter-of-fact charm and deadpan sense of humour. "This song is a little bit Velvet Underground," he says, innocently introducing Understated, with its heartbreakingly literal lyric about being "happy to be alive". Acoustic numbers Low Expectations and Home Again find his distinctively gloopy baritone voice similarly stretched but unbroken. "You're the man, Edwyn," shouts a fan during the tuning-up break, to which Collins responds as if there were only one polite and natural way: "Thank you. So are you."
• Performing 17 June at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Box office: 0844 875 0073. Venue: Southbank Centre.
