DAVID Essex's once dark hair has greyed and thinned, but after all, it is three decades since he first made teenage girls and their mums go weak at the knees.

But the passage of time has been unable to extinguish the cheeky twinkle in his eyes.

And last night's audience, comprising largely I suspect of women who were teeny boppers when Ted Heath became Prime Minister, showed they were willing to literally stand by their man.

In fact, as soon as their idol sauntered on stage, whole rows emptied as hordes of middle-aged females dashed to the front and others in the stalls jumped out of their seats -- much to some fans' disgust.

"Sit down!" came the fruitless cries in between Essex's opening songs from his latest album Wonderful which he is heavily promoting on this 47 date UK tour.

Attentive

Essex, ever attentive to his mainly female followers' needs, listened to their protestations, but as he diplomatically pointed out with a disarming grin and the noisy approval of most of the audience: "I don't do security!"

His 100 minute performance, with a mandatory encore, featured several numbers from the new album and, to be honest, although passable, they simply highlighted the strength of his hits from the past.

And he made sure there were plenty of those thrown in to keep the faithful happy: Hold Me Close ("I think this one might be a hit," he joked by way of an introduction), Oh What A Circus, Silver Dream Machine, Rock Me, A Winter's Tale and Gonna Make You A Star, sent the audience into a frenzy.

He might have a few more wrinkles than he did in the seventies, but Ol' Sparkly Eyes has still got it.

(The Wonderful Tour continues across the country until November 29). Ian Savage