Review: ALEXANDER ARMSTRONG: A YEAR OF SONGS LIVE, The London Palladium, January 22 2016

"The category is "Singers who have had solo shows at the London Palladium". You said Alexander Armstrong. Is it right? Yes it is..."

And the chances are that it would be a pointless answer, because who knew that the comedian. TV presenter and actor could sing like this?

Okay - he's a better host of Pointless than he is a singer, but he's still pretty good and, as he tells us, he has wisely gathered a group of nine musicians around him and then picked as eclectic a mix of songs as you can imagine to fill a couple of hours of undemanding, yet enlightening, entertainment.

It's undemanding because the band gives a pleasant swing arrangement to each song and Xander has plenty of belt, as he's a classically trained musician with impressive breath control to fuel his baritone and sufficient musical chops to riff along on the saxophone and come over a bit Billy Joel playing the piano. Though the show is not a cabaret, he cracks a few good one-liners between the songs and oozes the professionalism and ease of a man used to holding an audience in the palm of his hand.

What made the show fly for me was the range of material he drew upon. While "A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square" seems almost obligatory in shows like this, Rainbow's "Since You Been Gone", Spandau Ballet's "True" and an uproarious "Ain't No Pleasin' You" which paid due respect to the now much admired Chas and Dave are certainly not. I learned plenty too, with a couple of sublime Neil Hannon songs delivered with great skill and affection, a version of WB Yeats' "Down By The Salley Gardens" (how had I missed this before?) and an epic "Stranger In Paradise" crooned like Crosby. That little lot have already sent me to YouYube to explore further.

The Palladium might be just a bit too big for a show like this - Xander's good, but he's not Bruce Springsteen - but in medium sized venues, a lovely evening is guaranteed.

Alexander Armstrong: A Year Of Songs Live is on tour.

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