Saints, Sister Act and festival fun...

No sooner had we recovered from the brilliant Common People, than it was on to yet more fabulous entertainments treats for summer 2017.

The big dates on the diary were the long-awaited appearance of Robbie Williams at St Mary's Stadium and the start of a two-week stint for Alexandra Burke in Sister Act at Mayflower Theatre.

Both were truly fantastic. Robbie proved himself the ultimate showman as he had tens of thousands of adoring fans bouncing on the pitch to Let Me Entertain You and Alex dazzled as Deloris, bringing what was already a spectacular show to another level.

Now I'm an old hand at reviewing at the Mayflower and don't even find having to conjure up 300 or so coherent words and fit them into sentence in about 20 minutes ready for a review for the next day's paper as difficult as I used to.

Sister Act is a show I'm particularly familiar with, having made a cameo appearance in it when it last arrived in Southampton, back in 2012.

And while I spend a lot of my time at St Mary's for fun, if you can call it that this system, it's been a while since I worked during a concert there.

I vaguely remember dancing on stage with Bon Jovi during their second outing at the home of the Saints, terrifyingly nearly ten years ago.

So I was excited to see one of my childhood favourites in action in my home town.

I really enjoyed the highs of a great concert with an atmosphere to match, but not so much the lows of dealing with Robbie's entourage.

All media photographers were asked to stay away. So, much as we would have like to provide you with hundreds of , our photographer was forced to listen to the strains of Rock DJ and Angels from outside after snapping fans in fantastic spirits on their way to the gig, taking selfies with armed police and dancing in the rain.

I suspect Robbie's people wanted to control the images which made their way out via the media with him struggling with a back problem and frequently sitting down during his act. Plus he didn't quite look on top form at the One Love Manchester benefit concert on Sunday.

But, believe me, the image attached from my seat, taken from the pit by a professional with a long lens, featuring a leather kilt clad Robbie owning the stage in front of an ecstatic bumper crowd, would have been a sight to behold.

Still, onwards and upwards.

It's just the small matter of Isle of Wight Festival to go now.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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