“We love you Mark!” screams a heckler in the audience. He was excited for one reason: Mark Lanegan had finally arrived.

Falmouth is a picturesque, coastal resort, primarily occupied by students and the retired. The Princess Pavilion is proof of this: Posters lining the walls of tribute acts and weekly club nights, while in the centre is a quaint, Edwardian bandstand; its beauty enhanced in the evening sun. An unlikely venue, perhaps, to hear Lanegan’s signature rasping croon.

In fact, it is a miracle that Lanegan is here at all: homelessness, imprisonment, substance abuse and rehab would test, if not destroy, the average man (that’s before we get into the demise of the Screaming Trees). Ironically, the 48-year-old outlaw is currently enjoying – although he never looks like it – his most successful spell: Blues Funeral was released to rave reviews; topping 2004’s Bubblegum, while he has recently been confirmed as Mad Season’s new vocalist.

After being treated to Creature with the Atom Brain’s lurching, bleary-eyed stomp, Lanegan, accompanied by his hand-picked four-piece, appears from the shadows. Dressed naturally in black, he opens with ‘The Gravedigger’s Song’ before trudging through ‘St Louis Elegy’ – delivering each lyric with a haunting, reflective grimace: “If tears were liquor / I’d have drunk myself sick.”

Keeping conversation to a minimum, Lanegan quipped that “it was an honour to play here,” and seemed genuinely taken with the town. Rather than exiting onto his grand, black tour bus, he made for the merchandise stall; interacting and signing autographs for star-struck locals. Come back soon, please, Mark.