This one, as well as observing all the rituals such as the address to the haggis, took a fairly broad view of Burns, his influence and the sources he tapped for inspiration, incorporating Edwin Muir and featuring long-time Burns admirer Dougie Maclean leading the audience through amiable sing-alongs on his own Ready for the Storm and the bard's Green Grow the Rashes-o.

While fiddler Duncan Chisholm served drinks in Rab's Bar and performers tucked into haggis between numbers, a house band comprising Breabach and Blazin' Fiddles kept the musical kettle boiling and fiddle trios supplied a vigorous toast to the lassies and the lassies' response. Liz Lochhead's Immortal Memory, complete with a brilliant "From a Mouse" parody, threatened to steal the show but Kathleen MacInnes's soul-catching unaccompanied Gaelic singing and her lovely reading of the Gaelic song whose melody Burns borrowed for Ae Fond Kiss provided the moments that lingered on the drive home.

HHH