Gig review: "Enthralling" Jack Savoretti show at historic York Museum Gardens

With its historic ruins amid a green backdrop on a summer evening, you could easily be back in Italy, the land of his father.

In his opening salvos, the upbeat We Are Bound quickly gets fans in the mood for an evening of easy listening classics.

As he eases through his back catalogue, Savoretti looks genuinely thrilled as he enthuses how he’d never imagine hearing an audience in York singing back to him in Italian.

With his famous songs such as Candlelight, What More Can I do and Love Is On The Line, he’s not short of chances to showcase his vocal talents.

Catapult slows things down before Savoretti dedicates the crowd-pleasing Greatest Mistake to his fans for keeping live music alive.

He concedes he took playing gigs for granted until Covid hit but will never make that mistake again.

Given the way he performs here - Savoretti seems to enjoy the show as much as the fans - you sense he’s not paying lip-service.

He describes how Singing to Strangers was the way his young daughter perfectly explained to her friends what his job was.

The Way You Say Goodbye details how he differentiates between romance and love.

Knock Knock gets the crowd jumping again and there’s plenty more rousing performances.

Savoretti’s nine year-old son is in the crowd and he tells his dad it “is amazing.” It is, indeed, an ideal venue for this sort of concert (Shed Seven agreed the following night) and surely there will be more big acts following.

Savoretti rounds off an enthralling 90 minutes with what he describes as one of the most romantic songs ever written - You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me - but in Italian, the way it should be sung. No one complains.