I felt almost sorry for Peter Gabriel.

He was headlining this Amnesty International gig and Aswad were the support. Like most people from North or West London, I’d seen Aswad before. They were a local band, so I knew how good they were and they were fantastic. When they did their version of this, even the proggiest Lamb Lies Down on Broadway folk were up on their feet bouncing along. So when Peter Gabriel came on, it was a terrible anti-climax. He’d been completely upstaged by three good-time boys from Ladbroke Grove. I thought of them yesterday, as I walked down Portobello Road in the sunshine. Because it was precisely that feeling they convey – Portobello Road in the sunshine – that people have always loved about Aswad. Even die-hard Peter Gabriel fans.