Tony Bennett - Birmingham Symphony Hall, review

Tony Bennett concert review

Birmingham Symphony Hall

The good life came to Birmingham's Symphony Hall on Saturday night with a memorable performance by legendary crooner Tony Bennett.

Legend is a phrase too often used these days, yet here is an artist who has been selling records by the million for over 60 years, and he's still going strong at almost 84 years of age.

" I guess you'll have noticed that I prefer old songs," he said after 90 minutes of classics from his Great American Songbook album.

"That's because they're better than the new ones." No one was arguing with that .

The Symphony Hall was built for performers of this stature and with his voice and phrasing as immaculate as ever. From the opening Watch What Happens, Bennett and his quartet of excellent musicians kept the night moving along apace with I Got Rhythm and Steppin' Out, thrilling the audience with some nifty footwork and graceful spins.

He remains the consummate entertainer, his face beaming and arms outstretched to an adoring crowd at the end of each song. Highlights included a lovely rendition of The Way You Look Tonight, duetting only with Gray Sargent's beautiful guitar. There was also Just In Time, and of course, I Left My Heart In San Francisco.

The night was punctuated with anecdotes from a lifetime in showbusiness - how Bob Hope gave him the name Tony Bennett because his real Italian name of Anthony Dominick Benedetto was to long to fit across the theatre's marquee and how he and Rosemary Clooney were the first American Idols — and the thrill he got after receiving a letter from Charlie Chaplin, thanking him for reviving his song Smile.

After a couple more of his classics, a standing ovation, a shake of a few fans hands and, picking up the flowers an adoring fan had given to him earlier, he strolled from the stage.

By John Hackney.