A very civilised evening at High Lodge was kicked of by Laura Wright, who recently sang for the Queen during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, accompanied by just keyboard and violin.

She has a lovely voice and started with a song from Lord Of The Rings which she followed with Born Free. The audience was captivated. There was barely a breath of wind and you could have heard a pin drop.The rest of her set comprised of other well known songs that kept everyone interested while they finished their picnics.

The main event of the evening, Alfie Boe, started his set with Song To The Siren. His backing band was a cross between a rock group and an orchestra and was at least 20-strong. The sound was magnificent in the forest.

Their version of Roberta Flack’s The First Time Ever I Saw Your face was fantastic; simple yet powerful.

Alfie gave us a nice bit of patter between each song which the audience lapped up. He’s quite a joker.

He finished off the first half with a medley of Neapolitan songs that segued into a trio of rocked-up Elvis songs, It’s Now Or Never, Train Train and That’s Alright. These saw the crowd on their feet bopping along.

After the break the program started with the orchestra playing a selection of songs from Last Night Of The Proms, then Afie was back with an a capella operatic aria. This was followed by a beautiful rendition of Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. Alfie reprising his role as Jean Valjean.

The pace was picked up with a version of the Dobie Gray song Drift Away. The crowd were loving it and more classic songs followed by bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Eagles. A

All too soon it was ending, Alfie choosing to finish off with Angels From Montgomery for which he brought Laura Wright back to duet with.

If you have never been to a concert in Thetford Forest I can highly recommend it; it’s pretty special.

MARK WESTALL