How many of us have "dredged up the past" to drive ourselves "round the bends" during the last thirteen months as he chimes on ‘It’s A Very Deep Sea’? Or, with the help of James Morrison, singing of humans as ‘Broken Stones’ trying to become whole once more on gospel strains from 1995’s Stanley Road. Though the Brechtian, Brel-like vaudeville of ‘Equanimity’ was an appeal to calm after a row with his wife, it seems to reflect the interludes between frustration at our now micro-managed lives. Even the cultural politics of The Style Council’s ‘Ever Changing Moods’ resonates as he says "evil turns to statues"; mirroring the Black Lives Matter movement.  

Jules Buckley, who bears a striking resemblance to Thom Yorke, is Creative Artist in Residence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has collaborated with a string of rock luminaries from Dizzee Rascal and Massive Attack to John Cale, re-creating their music for classical instruments: most recently with the BBC Symphony for Lianne Las Havas. Paul Weller was drafted in for a celebration of Quincy Jones and now sees his own oeuvre given the Buckley spin.

 
The camerawork is an extra dimension in the livestream theatre and here it roves like one of the spider spies in Minority Report. Beneath copper lights, glowing like our solar system’s star in Danny Boyle’s Sunshine, Weller delves into the furthest recesses of his career with The Jam ballads ‘English Rose’ and ‘Carnation’, but this is not solely a nostalgia trip. Two songs from latest release, Fat Pop,  hold their own and Weller’s 26th album, True Meanings, is mined on three occasions. It’s a pity Boy George isn’t given a chance to shine on a somewhat ordinary rendition of  ‘You’re The Best Thing’.

 

In an empty auditorium the performers can only applaud each other and Buckley doesn’t rise to Weller’s on stage banter. ‘White Horses’ would have been a resounding finale in a packed Barbican, nevertheless this is an arresting performance and the Celeste-assisted ‘Wild Wood’, re-packaged like a movie score that would have graced a Sergio Leone epic, was the pick of the set. And a poignant siren of hope too ("You’re going to find your way out of the wild, wild wood".) Now sixty-two, the restless Weller still passionately wants a better world and with long silver hair, looking more guru than man, he might help lead us there.