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A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
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Kitchen W8
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London,
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Description: Crooning classics from the octogenarian singing tunes from his many past releases.
Phone: 0207589 8212
Website: www.royalalberthall.com
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
, Tube / Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Extra info: Food, Pub
Flawless: 'I love this old hall,' said Tony Bennett as he sang almost 30 classics with power and emotion - and without a break
An impressive thicket of celebrities encircled Tony Bennett in the artists' backstage bar last night. TV host David Frost, painter Peter Blake and actresses Joanna Lumley and Martine McCutcheon were among those who thronged to shake the great man's hand.
No doubt about the star quality here. This was a triumphant evening for a venerated performer whose virile, Broadway-hip approach to singing is an increasingly precious reminder of a forgotten age when pop music was created for adults.
Here for a seven-date UK tour that includes a £150-a-head black-tie do at Ronnie Scott's next Sunday - a benefit for the Old Vic, a project dear to the heart of Ronnie's owner Sally Greene - Bennett was expected to take things a little easy on opening night, but not a bit of it.
With 105 albums and scores of hits to his name, the one-time singing waiter from New York turned 80 last year, but with that resolutely forward-looking attitude all Americans share, he called this The Best Is Yet To Come Tour and appeared to mean it.
On his last visit a fire in the stalls suddenly emptied the auditorium, but this time the fireworks all came from the bandstand. Heartened by a standing ovation, Bennett eased into Watch What Happens. Between this and his closing number - another Michel Legrand classic, How Do You Keep the Music Playing - he delivered a flawless 90-minutes from the Great American Songbook, almost 30 songs without a break.
"Why does Tony Bennett look like he's fighting off a mugger at the end of every tune?" a US reviewer once complained. Well, the arms continue to thrash a little, but given the awesome lung-power with which he can still climax such emotive songs as Maybe This Time and For Once In My Life, this is mere nit-picking.
There was a tender side as he demonstrated with Jerome Kern's masterpiece, All The Things You Are. "Probably," he remarked, "the greatest pop song ever written."
Beside him was a slick group packed with jazz talent, including pianist-MD Bruce Barth, guitarist Gray Sargent and Harold Jones, a drummer whose cleanly constructed fills sounded marvellous.
"I love this old hall," said Tony at last. "It's the real thing, unlike the filing cabinets they build nowadays. Turn the mikes off, please, Stan." With that he sang Fly Me to the Moon, proudly, acoustically, and with only Sargent's guitar for company. His voice reached every cranny inside the dome. It was the moment fans had come to hear. They knew that very few others can do it, and that fairly soon nobody else will.
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I was there on opening night and was myself a professional singer for 28 years. Tony Bennett was utterly awesome, the atmosphere was electric, his performance outstanding. Forget the £50 per head my wife and I paid, after seeing him I would have gladly paid £500 each. We will not see his like again, thank god we were there for the experience.
- Mike Spencer, Poole England
What a performance! I was left stunned that a man of 80 had that much energy to match a voice that sounded untouched by age. A true classic and A-lister.
- P. Wright, Great Yarmouth, UK
Sheer magic: professional, charismatic, bursting with energy even after ninety minutes, entertaining, oozing talent, one of the leaders from a golden era.
- Marie Beswick, Southend, UK
An absolutely breathtaking performance! My hair stood on end during some of the songs. The energy of the man is incredible - hardly a break between songs.
"Fly me to the moon" - when he sank without the mike was a privilege to witness
- Roy Thompson, London
Amazing evening. 90 minutes of wonderful songs, without a single break
he captured the audience with his charisma and wonderful sense of humour.
- Dawn, London, UK
