Andre Rieu - Leeds Arena

Global superstar violinist Andre Rieu played to a packed Leeds audience at the Arena on his Love in Venice tour.

I was expecting quite a highbrow show but Rieu is quite a joker and his humour was evident throughout the evening.

"I have 10 nationalities in my orchestra" he informed the audience "we have musicians from all over the world but tonight we are in the centre of the universe - Leeds" he joked.

His Johann Strauss Orchestra made a grand entrance on the arena floor by arriving down the aisles as they were led the way to the stage by Rieu. The stage set was very festive with 4 Christmas trees

There was even a mock bull as the pretend animal entered the arena to "chase" a female member of the audience who was dressed in red. It was a good stunt and well staged.

Basically it was a greatest hits set of classical music, his 3 tenors (who were Tasmanian, Bulgarian and German) performed a note perfect Nessum Dorma, there was a superb version of Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again from Phantom of the Opera and he even had the fans dancing in front of the stage to Blue Danube.

The theme of the night seemed to be how music can bring people together as he kept reiterating this message.

With images of Leeds behind him it added a local flavour to the night but he could have gone even further and played a version of On Ilka Moor Baht'At.

You felt that every little detail had been looked at as the show was flawless, complete with falling mock snow from the arena ceiling as the show closed. He performed Happy Days are here Again to close the night along with We'll Meet Again.

On leaving tonight's show it was a thought that was very true. The show was an unexpected surprise.