Matthew E White, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Perched on our seats are hand-drawn programmes with welcome messages, lyrics and wildlife sketches. On the inside cover, Matthew E White laments the transience of the live music experience. “We will never again all be together in the same room, under the same circumstances, feeling the same emotions we feel tonight,’ he says. “Every note that you hear will be gone as soon as you hear it.’ Humbled, he thanks us for our presence. The gig hasn’t even started yet.

Expectation is the abstract noun on everyone’s mind. You can feel the significance all around. This date at the Southbank’s QEH marks the conclusion of White’s first major European tour in promotion of last year’s unlikely success story ‘Big Inner’, a truly remarkable home-made record born from the ‘sound, process and spirit’ of the Spacebomb label in Richmond, Virginia.

With a timeless Motown-esque aesthetic based on ideals of community, love and experimentation, the label’s first release has only recently become a word-of-mouth triumph, but now people just can’t get enough. In January, White was playing the distinctly tiny Lexington venue. This evening, he’s playing to an approaching-vast concert hall and he’s still outsizing the stage.

And how marvellous it all is. Their elaborate classic soul sound is recreated almost flawlessly tonight: the usual six-piece band and guesting horn section chime in perfect unison, rebuilding even the most obscure and noodly instrumental flairs. It’s an intricate set-up which leaves the audience gaping, in awe and on tenterhooks: confused as to where to look, when, at what, and so on.

White’s trademark gruff tones are just stirring as on record, but when backed by a powerful rhythm section, psychedelic reverb, pedal steel guitar, calypso piano lines and continuous foot-stomping, they become something else altogether, something almost otherworldly. His vocal chords form a delicate and touching croon akin to Thomas Dybdahl’s, complemented by a diverse palette of instruments and noises.

Every song revolves around the ebbing and flowing of crescendos and diminuendos, almost always reaching a glorious sing-along finale. The band lilts and sways from side to side, as audience members get up to dance and sing. There’s no need for our programmes: everyone already knows the words.

Amidst jokes about the advanced linguistics of Cockney rhyming slang, misunderstandings of ‘Hot Toddies’ and the benefits of the NHS, White takes time between songs to thank us again. And again. And again. Throughout this performance, White manifests an overwhelming humility. He genuinely appreciates us being here and the feelings are mutual: Matthew E White is one of the best showmen around.