Dunstable

[Michele Monro]

The Grove Theatre is situated in Grove House Gardens and forms part of the Grove Park complex. The auditorium seats 780 people on two levels (Stalls and Circle). It only opened in April of last year and is beautifully appointed. It is gorgeous to see a brand new theatre with brand new sound and lighting equipment but you cannot beat an old theatre. There is something about it, the smells, the history, you can almost feel it has a story to tell.

There was a slight change to the running order in Dunstable. Matt had happily opened the first half and after a batch of songs he was interacting with the audience. He happened to mention the word karaoke and with that the musicians walked off the stage, even Colin left the singer standing treading the boards as a solitary figure. The audience were in fits of laughter and of course the whole thing was planned to give the spotlight to a friend of Matt's called Danielle Bentley. Show business is the hardest thing to break into and Matt wanted to give this talented singer a break.

The keyboard player took to the stage, giving Matt's other musicians time for a cup of tea and with the spotlight highlighting this very pretty girl she entertained the crowd with three numbers. Her choice of material was excellent and I don't know many people who don't like "Wind Beneath Your Wings' or indeed her last number 'Over the Rainbow'.

The audience showed their approval and with the applause still ringing round the theatre the musicians and Matt took their places back on stage.It is amazing how well the Neil Diamond medley goes down, I think it was a great choice of material and certainly gets everyone's tapping their feet. Although I absolutely love Matt's rendition of the song he dedicates to our father, my favourite remains Mr Bojangles and Mac the Knife. Mind you I am still waiting for Matt to use the hat!!! It was another great show and the sound infinitely better than it had been in Preston. Mark Spry was one member of the audience.

"Went to the Matt Monro Jnr show this evening, after my girlfriend told me to to go along. She remembers seeing Matt Monro Snr, probably 30 years ago and him being ''fab''. It was very clear from the show how much Matt's dad means to him, and the music was great and heartfelt, thanks. Could hear the Monro in the voice as well."

We are now over half way through this year's tour, it is amazing how quickly the time speeds by and before we know it, it will be Christmas. The merchandise is doing very well, as is dad's single release "Christmas Magic". I know a lot of you have been picking up items to give as presents to friends and we love hearing your stories. That is one of the nicest things when Matt comes out to the foyer after each show, we always meet so many people wanting either an autograph or photograph and you all have a tale to share.

We look forward to seeing those of you who are coming to a future show and thank those of you that have already been.