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Well on the face of it, two pensioners with a laptop and 20 fiddle players belting out hits from 30-plus years ago doesn’t exactly sound like an epic night.

But as Hacienda Classical proved when they headlined the opening night of last weekend’s Highest Point festival in Williamson Park, how wrong can you be?

We’ve bought tickets for every event there since it started back in 2016 - I make it six now - and my word, they have been truly blessed with magnificent weather each and every year.

For a city which has more than its fair share of rain, if you’re planning to Ronseal your shed, do it the weekend of Highest Point, it’ll be cracking the flags. Guaranteed.

There were a few sore backs and stiff knees after the Highest Point Festival in Williamson Park. Photo: Kelvin Stuttard

The Over-40s Night (or Hacienda Classical as it said on the tickets) was populated by a happy and relaxed crowd who, the vast majority of which it’s fair to say, weren’t attending their first rodeo. And when the band strikes up with N-Joi’s Anthem, you know you’re in for a memorable evening.

And so it proved, absolute banger after absolute banger for the best part of two hours. Everybody, and I mean everybody, had brought their dancing shoes.

You know when you go and see what they now call “legacy artists” and the singer says to the polite but disappointed crowd, “This next one’s from our new album”? Well, there was none of that last Thursday. Strictly greatest hits only.

Maybe it was the relentlessly uplifting house classic after relentlessly uplifting house classic, or the thousands of 90s clubbing veterans, or even the cameos from a couple of patron saints of Mancunian musical glitterati (hello Hooky and Bez!) but the whole night was unbelievably joyful. And a lot of people who hadn’t danced for a long, long time did an awful lot of dancing.

Unconfirmed reports suggest Lancaster pharmacies ran out of Voltarol by 10am last Friday thanks to thousands of stiff knees, ankles and lower backs of people who aren’t quite as young as they used to be but had a bloody good time.

There are some who resent the fact that they can’t get into “their” park for a week or so while organisers set about building and then dismantling a whole festival. But come on, it’s one week, and Highest Point is the best event this city of ours hosts all year. It’s a thing now. And it’s brilliant. So finally, a massive thank you to everyone involved with Highest Point 2023 and we’ll see you again next year, God willing.

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Who's The Daddy: Stiff knees and sore backs but a good time had by all