Pavarotti at North Harbour Stadium

The question is - who would want to pay $800 to see Pavarotti? Well, it depends if you wanted a night of nostalgia and memories. In his prime the maestro had a voice as tough as diamond and could hit those high notes just as brilliantly.

But in this Farewell Tour concert, the world's best-known tenor sat on stage - a fact cunningly hidden by the grand piano and a display of of flowers, with the large screens discreetly showing him from the waist up.

This gave a static quality to the evening, not helped by an echoing sound system which meant you heard him twice.

True, there were moments of beauty in the repertoire - mainly a selection of the arias that made him famous - but more often than not, that wonderful voice wavered and was only a vestige of the past.

The start of the evening started promisingly enough. A selection of songs from the Italian recital repertoire including songs by Tosti and Bellini accompanied by pianist-conductor Leone Magiera highlighted a straight-forward, no fuss approach.

Soprano Simona Todaro made an elegant entrance with Bellini's Vaga luna che inargenti impressing with her lyricism. In many ways this fine singer held the concert together, although she sometimes forced her voice in the upper range.

But it was Pavarotti that many in the audience had paid big money to see, and it was only after interval that the old spark seemed to return. - not surprisingly, in one of the most popular arias of them all, E Lucevan le stelle from Puccini's Tosca. Almost his signature tune, the tenor sang with simplicity and feeling.

A pity that people really didn't get value for money in this concert. Most would agree that is definitely time that the tenor concentrated on passing his knowledge to the next generation instead.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY