THE sound of the West End came to Bolton as singing heart-throb Michael Ball closed the Big Light On series of concerts.

The theatre and musical star performed all his favourite songs from the last 20 years in front of a packed crowd at the Reebok Stadium.

Oozing with his usual charm and sophistication, the singing sensation covered all the greats, including Sunset Boulevard, Les Miserables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Joseph and His Technicolour Dreamcoat.

Every song was greeted with rapturous applause as fans recognised one of their favourites from the first few bars of music.

Michael was a real showman and was the perfect star to close the curtain on the six shows which have been watched by more than 10,000 people.

His enthusiasm and love of music was evident as he put his heart and soul into every tune, making sure the show went out on a real high.

He obviously has a large local fan base as every time he flashed one of his famous grins, half the audience jumped to their feet and cheered.

One of the highlights of the night was the guest appearance during the second half by the fabulous Celia Graham, who appeared as Christine in the West End's Phantom of the Opera. As the sun started to set, they sang Phantom and Music of the Night, reaching notes so high that all the hairs on your arms stood up.

The latter part of the show was more upbeat and everyone got to their feet to have a dance. Michael obviously enjoyed himself because he ran on for an extra half an hour.

Star of the show on Saturday was ex-Spandau Ballet star Tony Hadley.

The pop superstar of the 80s performed songs from James Bond films from 1962 to the present day.

Thousands of people turned out to watch the debut of future West End show Shaken not Stirred.

Mr Hadley's three extremely competent fellow singers were given a luke-warm reception at first. Well, compared to Mr Hadley's appearance on stage they were. But the crowd soon warmed to them, particularly Carmen Cusack, as her fabulous figure-hugging dresses were given the thumbs-up by the men in the crowd.

Alex Sharpe and Michael Xavier were also warmly greeted - all three are established West End stars.

They worked their way through The World Is Not Enough, Diamonds Are Forever, Licence To Kill, A View To Kill, Nobody Does It Better and many more.

If the truth be known, most turned up to see Mr Hadley and they were not let down.

Hopes of chance outbursts of 'True' and 'Gold' were dashed but he was worth the ticket money anyway. Apart from gaining a few extra pounds, the star looks and sounds exactly the same.

He was made to sound even better with the West End concert orchestra, conducted by Martin Yates.

A spectacular firework display over the stadium rounded off the night.