I have seen some enthusiastic crowds at the Pavilion over the years but tonight's Rick Astley gig may have just taken top spot.

The venue was packed to the rafters with fans old and new and every single one of them was on their feet as soon as the opening cords of the opening number rang out.

An early outing of Together Forever kept the party atmosphere going before When I Fall In Love had them in their seats for the first time.

New single Keep On Singing is easily as good as anything he has ever done and streets ahead of nearly every singer around at the moment.

Unlike far too many of today's talent show 'stars' there is no auto-tune needed here.

Rick has a soul voice that should see him recognised not just as an 80's pop star but as one of the finest singers this country has ever produced.

She Wants To Dance With Me got the crowd back on their feet and from then the evening was a mix of old and new spanning thirty years with that voice as the constant running through the set.

A couple of covers with excellent versions of the Clean Bandit / Jess Glynn hit Rather Be and Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson / Bruno Mars were well placed in the middle of the set "because I never had many hits of my own".

These both went down a storm and went to further demonstrate the versatility and range of the Ricks voice.

The rapport between Rick and the crowd throughout the evening was a pleasant surprise, if he ever decides on a change of career he could probably make a reasonable living as a stand-up comedian.

After falling out of love with the music industry in the early 90's and retiring there have been a couple of low profile releases with little or no promotion and little else.

On tonight's showing he is back and enjoying himself again and let's hope it continues because more people should be treated to the sound of that voice and the performance that he delivered tonight.

Oh, and he played Never Gonna Give You Up and nearly lifted the roof of the venue (and a few of the buildings next door as well)!