Phantom star Dave delights with home show

Dave Willetts At Home - live streamed concert.

If you’ve been feeling any lockdown blues, there was a great opportunity last night to do what the man said and "just chill out". The man in question was Dave Willetts and the event was his live streaming on-line concert from his home. Coventry’s West End singing star took a new turn in his fine singing career to sit with acoustic guitar and play a variety of his own arrangements of songs he has seldom sung before. And the result? An hour of cool, relaxed pleasure from an entertainer with a voice and style to match any of the best in the business, past and present. This was, perhaps, most keenly illustrated by his account of the night he performed in Las Vegas to an audience which included Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and Lauren Bacall. Introduced with the expected orchestral burst of Phantom of the Opera, Dave socked it to Sinatra with his own versions of New York, New York, segueing into My Way. Last night he gave us his updated acoustic arrangement of the two songs and it was a terrific highlight of the hour. "Join in if you know it" was an ongoing theme, along with tongue-in-cheek apologies to Andrew Lloyd Webber for a driving new version of Phantom and to us: "If this all goes wrong, please forgive me!" It didn’t. In fact, this was a totally delightful session with a host who chatted comfortably and moved with amazing ease between varying styles, with only a few pauses for breath. Other top spots for me were his tribute to Sammy Davis Jr with Mr Bojangles and a marvellously mellow version of A Million Dreams. "I bet you never heard them like that before," he said with a grin at one point. We hadn’t – and this sparky feeling of musical creativity and vocal charm ensured a delightful evening entertainment.