IF you heard a faint blubbering sound beneath the plaintive guitar and voice of Paul Weller, pictured, on his recent acoustic tour and wondered what it was, wonder no more - it was the sound of grown men crying.

Such were the emotions roused by Paul's trip through The Jam, Style Council and Paul Weller back catalogues, adults were sobbing into their beer.

The moody singer, who barely muttered a word between songs and provoked whole concert halls full of fans to sing along without prompting, has since released moments from undisclosed nights on that tour and is now coming back round again.

The album Days of Speed is one of the best live albums ever released, so simple is it in its beauty and completely lacking in commerciality, it rings with earnestness almost unheard of in modern music.

The cries of joy when he sings English Rose are enough to put anyone on a tender edge and draw some emotion.

On that tour, earlier this year Paul played St David's Hall and next week it is the turn of Bristol's Colston Hall to play host.

"It went quick," he said on a night of that tour. "It's like one of those 1940s films where the dates start flying off the calendar and flying away."

Paul has never before revisited his Jam and Council days in such an all-encompassing manner and in doing so now, there is a sense that time is closing in on him.

But nothing seems to faze him. On St David's Hall's stage he broke a string and merely extended his right arm, holding the guitar aloft without even looking in that direction and a minion from the wings produced a new one.

Now that's entertainment.

* Paul Weller plays The Colston Hall on Tuesday November 6. Dial (0117) 922 3682 for more details.