REVIEW

JASON DONOVAN - AMAZING MIDLIFE CRISIS TOUR

ELECTRIC PALACE, BRIDPORT

SITTING through Jason Donovan's show was like the cosiest of duvet days - the comfort of some of my favourite music from the late 80s and early 90s, memories of Neighbours and tales from those Stock, Aitken and Waterman days.

With a set consisting of a comfortable armchair, a couple of stools with microphones and guitars and a string of fairy lights that charmingly flickered on and off, the Australian heart-throb served up an evening of soothing nostalgia.

While the former teen idol has seen his ex-singing partner (and real-life ex) Kylie Minogue continue selling out arenas, cementing her place as the third best-selling female artist in UK history, Jason has found his niche in recounting anecdotes.

And he tells a good story - smoking weed on the set of Neighbours (on Lassiters bridge itself nonetheless!) before filming scenes as the hunky boy next door Scott Robinson and encountering George Michael in the steam room of a London gym among them.

Although he makes jokes about finding himself performing in Bridport, which he found hard to pronounce, and the lack of motorways leading him to this out-of-the-way Dorset town, Donovan's self-deprecating Aussie humour is one of the reasons us Brits have taken him to our heart - and not let him go.

It was obvious from the multiple screams and offers of a bed for the night in Bridport from the largely female audience that Donovan still has plenty of sex appeal. His interaction with the audience was hilarious, especially his discovery of the existence of the Dorset knob biscuit in answer to a question about which biscuit he would dunk in his tea.

The evening was never billed as a gig and although Donovan performed three songs, I was left wanting more. He sang Sealed With A Kiss, Any Dream Will Do and Too Many Broken Hearts. His voice, while not the auto-tuned flawless product we were familiar with as he and all other acts were asked to mime on Top of the Pops back then, brought an added realness and extra poignancy to the songs, especially the scaled back Any Dream Will Do from his Joseph days.

And of course, we all had a sing-along to Especially For You, a song that means so much to so many people. And the passionate singing by the crowd at the Palace proved that Donovan is very much still our favourite boy next door.