THOUSANDS of fans went wild in the woods for James Morrison as the first of a season of open air shows in Thetford Forest kicked off.

Elliot Furniss

THOUSANDS of fans went wild in the woods for James Morrison as the first of a season of open air shows in Thetford Forest kicked off.

Morrison, who has released two successful albums of soul/rock that have won the hearts of legions of supporters, took to the secluded stage as the sun began to sink behind the trees

Performing all of his radio-friendly hits including Undiscovered, You Make it Real and Please Don't Stop the Rain, the singer-songwriter from Rugby was clearly thrilled with the reception he received from the crowd.

With regimental rows of picnic chairs and blankets lining the arena, the crowd was looking for a professional and polished performance, and the former busker delivered.

He spoke enthusiastically between songs and seemed genuinely touched when reflecting on how far his career has come since he was spotted on the streets and helped on the way to stardom.

He said: “I used to busk on the street and people would ignore me - this is just unbelievable. We've only been on the road for four years!”

He also made cracks about the number of sandwiches being eaten by members of the crowd and enthusiastically introduced support singer Beverley Brown for a duet on Broken Strings, originally recorded with Nelly Furtado.

Morrison, a Brit Award winner in 2007, was backed up by a slick band that swelled to as many as 10 musicians at times, with a brass section featuring heavily on Nothing Ever Hurt Like You, which was merged into a raucous cover of Stevie Wonder hit Uptight (Everything's Alright).

With the green-lit trees glowing as the sun set towards the end of the set, Morrison finished things off with well-received rendition of Once When I Was Little. You Give Me Something was a crowd-pleasing encore.