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Most bands are happy if they land one anthem that takes their music to a whole new audience. The Proclaimers can justifiably lay claim to three.

Letter To America still bristles with its rollcall of Scotland’s abandoned industrial wastelands, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) will ignite concert halls for decades to come, and then there’s Sunshine On Leith.

Nine years ago to the very day of this gig, I heard it played at the funeral of a colleague, and it never sounded so poignant or beautiful. On Friday, it soared to the rafters of the Alhambra - a work of magnificent beauty that stirs the soul and unlocks the tear ducts at the same time, every time

Any band would have kept it to last. Not The Proclaimers who returned form an encore of two songs from their debut Album,. This Is The Story.

The Proclaimers on stage at the Alhambra Theatre

Make My Heart Fly sounded as joyous as ever, while the Joyful Kilmarnock Blues was extended to include a rollicking rock-out drum solo and finale.

We’re fast closing in on the 50th anniversary of that album -it’s incredible to think back to that groundbreaking appearance of The Reid brothers on The Tube, and how they have become arguably the most under-rated songwriters and story tellers to emerge from Scotland.

One central theme dominates much of their work - love.

Putting the celebratory Let’s Get Married back to back with the sharpness of What Makes You Cry was genius, and, in two songs, captured so much of what makes the Proclaimers’ appeal both timeless and universal.

The new tracks were less familiar to this full house but still fitted in well with choice cuts from across their career. Over And Done With still makes me smile 45 years on, while the rallying call of Cap In Hand resonated more than ever in a week of the Supreme Court’s decision on an independence referendum.

The Proclaimers, Alhambra Theatre: A rousing gig to stir the soul