Arthur H.’s fans were greeted last night by the red and gold walls, fleece-lined cushions and soft lighting of one of Paris’s most striking theatre venues, the Bouffes du Nord. An unadorned grand piano stood just in front of the first few rows of the audience, sitting cross-legged, with no barrier separating them from the stage. Arthur H. arrived bang on time, dressed in an elegant grey satin suit. Sitting down at the piano he kicked off with a homage to the American-Mexican singer Lhasa, who died in January 2010 and with whom he had sung a number of duets: “A year ago I came to see her at this theatre. I dedicate all my Paris concerts to her memory.”

There followed a string of Arthur H. hits – Lady of Shanghai, Adieu Tristesse, Luna Park to name but a few. Divested of their usual arrangements, they took on a different hue, sometimes sounding more classical, sometimes more bluesy or more jazzy, depending on  the way the artist rerecorded them for his new album, Mystic Rumba, a sort of “best of”, covering twenty-odd songs from the past (as well as a few new ones) in piano-plus-vocals mode. “I had a desire to hear myself without any kind of artifice, as if exposed under a giant magnifying glass,” Arthur H. explains. A solo show is something of a risky enterprise, since it could just as easily place a cruel spotlight on the singer’s flaws. In Arthur H.’s case, however, it merely accentuates his enormous charisma. There’s not one boring moment in his set, as he recounts his delicate tales of disorder, wild stories and intimate biography.

As for the staging, it’s all about the lighting and shadows. Arthur also uses some unlikely instruments to amuse himself and his audience. On two songs, he accompanies himself with a metronome application on his mobile phone. A half an hour later, he’s leaning into the piano to slide a clothes peg up and down the strings to make new sounds. But enough said: go and see the marvellous Arthur H. for yourself. The son of French singer Jacques Higelin has pulled off a real highwire act, leaving us entranced.