Dame Shirley Bassey: BBC ELECTRIC PROMS

[Marian]

We enjoyed the show, and you must admit she still looks and sounds fantastic for her age.
Marian and Peter

[Lena & Harry Smith]

She does look and sound good Marian and Peter, and make-up wasn't overdone either.
It's often sad to see how some ageing stars must use a trowel to put on their Fullers Earth make-up thinking it hides the wrinkles.

[ROBERT M.]

I tried to watch it on the red button tonight, but even though the main channels had good reception, the red button kept breaking up

[john]

It's on youtube already Robert.

[ROBERT M.]

Thanks john

[michduncg]

This concert has also been repeated hourly on BBC digital - channel 301 on Freeview. I managed to see the whole concert today and loved it. She's still got it - joking with her 'toy boy' guitarist, smouldering her way through 'Kiss me honey, honey', marching her way though 'What my love', as well as singing all our other fave Bassey tunes. Shirley looked and sounded wonderful, and had a great rapport with the audience. She confidentally picked her way through more contemporary tunes, demonstrating why she is still at the top of her game after 50 years. The only downside to Dame Shirley is that having seen the spoof documentary 'Rock Profile', I can't watch her sing 'GOldfinger' without smiling!

[Terence Lee]

BBC flagship event pulls in healthy audience share

By Ben Cardew

Dame Shirley Bassey and Robbie Williams helped this year's BBC Electric Proms pull in almost a million more TV viewers than in 2008.

The BBC's flagship music event, which took place October 20-25 at Camden's Roundhouse attracted 5.23m viewers aged four and upwards to BBC2, compared to 4.3m last year when the event was on both BBC2 and BBC4. The Proms' audience share was also up, from 7.6% last year to 9.2%.

While Williams' Tuesday performance - his first UK gig in three years and broadcast to cinemas around the world - pulled in the headlines, he was overshadowed in audience terms by Bassey, who benefited from a Saturday night broadcast of her show.

Williams attracted 527,000 viewers - with 7.1% audience share - while Bassey pulled in 1.27m viewers and 8.0% of the TV audience. Smokey Robinson, Dizzee Rascal and Doves completed the headliners and their performances attracted 524,000, 246,000 and 184,000 viewers respectively.

"With Shirley Bassey, we saw at Glastonbury she had the highest audience figures and it was all ages, because she has such a huge appeal, she goes across generations," says festival director Lorna Clarke. "But we have asked the question of what would Robbie have done if he was on earlier [than 11.20pm] or at the weekend."

One notable difference with this year's Proms was that it took place solely within the Roundhouse - previous events have taken place across different venues and cities - a change that partly reflected tightened budgets within the BBC. Nevertheless, ticket sales were strong, with 12,790 tickets sold across the five nights, including after-parties, masterclasses and other fringe events.

[Terence Lee]

I'm enjoying the Roundhouse concert on DVD, thanks to Mariana.
It's superb!
The Dame has mellowed with age and sings with more expression.

[Mark Fox]

'ELECTRIC PROMS' r epeated on BBC TV FOUR next week followed by Andy Williams'DUETS'(repeat).

[Mark Fox]

BBC RADIO 2 (repeat)BBC ELECTRIC PROMS-7pm.28th december.