Alfie Boe at Llangollen Eisteddfod - review and pictures

The legendary tenor last night admitted – with tongue in cheek – that he wouldn’t have taken the booking for a return visit to the Eisteddfod if he had known at the time that the England football team would be playing on the same night at the World Cup in Russia.

And it was obvious that some of the audience were of the same mind, judging by the number of phones being consulted during his performance.

“Mind you, I find it scarier watching the match than singing in front of all of you,” he said.

But the football interest - which included a clip of England’s first goal being shown on the big screens on the pavilion stage - didn’t detract from a superb show put on by Boe and his band of very talented musicians.

He started off with a rousing rendition of Sing, Sing and proceeded to showcase his wide repertoire of songs and styles with numbers including The Way You Look Tonight, through to Les Miserables hit I Dreamed a Dream, and a number of classics and popular songs such as Volare, before finishing up with songs from The Who’s Quadrophenia.

At every possible chance, Boe got the audience to join in and sing along to choruses. The star even got the Eisteddfod president, Terry Waite, to sing solo - much to the delight of the crowd.

Boe said his wide choice of programme stemmed from his love of all types of music.

“Music is music; it’s all the same notes on the same bits of paper, just played in different ways,” he explained.

And his audience listened entranced to it all – apart from the time when realisation suddenly set in that England had won in Russia, when cheers rang out with the loudest shouts of delight coming from Boe and his band on stage.

“Ooh, let’s all go to the pub,” he joked.

But of course the show went on, and ended with a standing ovation, encores and the singer running around the audience, glad-handing his legion of fans and stopping to pose for selfies.

An excellent night’s entertainment.

By Deborah Knox