Russell’s back to his powerful best

“What an incredibly emotional evening for me,” booms Russell Watson to an adoring home crowd at Salford’s Lowry Theatre.

And Russell sure knows how to pull those heart strings of his fans to make sure they feel every bit of emotion too.

From the first strains of O Sole Mio, Russell proved to be back to his very best. They don’t call him “The Voice” for nothing.

And for this, the first of two homecoming gigs back in Salford, the bolt-cutter turned people’s tenor really showcased his vocal prowess with a return to all his classical favourites.

Dedicating a stirring Ave Maria to a best friend who had lost his battle with cancer that very morning, there was barely a dry eye in the house.

His version of You Are So Beautiful is touchingly dedicated to his two daughters who he points out in the audience as his “two little angels, although they’re not so little anymore”.

And during a walk through of the crowds Russell dashed to kiss his “inspirational friend”, teen fundraiser Kirsty Howard to the delight and applause of a home crowd ever knowing of the 13-year-old’s courageous charity battles after being born with her heart back to front.

Amazing Grace

Just when you think he’s played all his cards, out comes soul star Jocelyn Brown for an empassioned duet of Amazing Grace.

Then for the uplifting finale, Russell even brings out 17-year-old Hartlepool youngster Lewis Laking join him for a duet on You Raise Me Up.

Russell explains he was so touched by the youngster’s story (of supporting a friend who suffered a brain haemorrhage) after he appeared with him on John Barrowman’s BBC entertainment show Tonight’s The Night, that he invited him to join him on stage.

In a nod to his other most recent TV work, as a judge on the BBC’s Last Choir Standing, he’s brilliantly supported throughout the night by one of the finalists on that show, the pitch-perfect Sense of Sound.

Trademark humour

But of course this wouldn’t be a Russell Watson show without the trademark northern humour as well.

When he teases the crowd with an introduction to a song as “his most requested song that I’ve never recorded”, he runs with an audience suggestion that it’s “My Old Man’s A Dustman” and merrily leads the crowd in a chorus.

And he gets a fit of the giggles when one amorous fan calls out: “I’ve put my leather on, special”

This was textbook tenor stuff – a booming Caruso here, a sing-a-long-a Volare and Funiculi Funicula there.  But Russell knows how to get the crowd on their feet for one of a series of encores – first with his trademark Nessun Dorma and then some rock ‘n’ roll romps through Twist and Shout and I Saw Her Standing There.

An emotional evening? Russell, you made sure of it.

Russell Watson plays The Lowry again tonight. £24.47 – £53.83. Call 0870 787 5780.

Source: M.E.N (Citylife)