Barb Jungr leaned on Simon Wallace’s battered piano, recounting stories from her years running the bar of a London hotel. Her hilarious account of helping Leonard Cohen evade a stalker segued seamlessly into an icy, motionless version of First We Take Manhattan.

Her whole demeanour was that of a wise, hard-to-surprise woman who has seen it all, doesn’t tolerate fools and probably has good advice and an appropriate song for any situation.

Jungr’s latest tour is themed around night-time songs, ranging from an intimate, stripped-back version of the romantic Lay Lady Lay to a defiant, almost pugnacious version of Dancing In The Dark. Slowing Springsteen’s song down, articulating its tragic core of exhaustion and raging against the dying of the light, she swayed mesmerically across the stage.

“Night time is also the time for vengeance!” she declared, prowling through a chilling incantation of Your Cheating Heart as if placing a voodoo curse.

An ironic rendition of Help Me Make It Through The Night led into a raw, vulnerable Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.

Some songs, such as the Kurt Weill lullaby Lost In The Stars, were less compelling but overall this unique cabaret experience was magical.