HIS mum was there, along with family and old school friends.
And then there were the 5,000 or so fans who left Roger Hodgson overwhelmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night.
You may have seen the former Supertramp star all but steal the show at July’s televised Memorial Concert for Diana.
He’s attracted the interest of a new generation, thanks in part to Scooter’s recycling of The Logical Song.
And then there’s the Gym Class Heroes track Cupid’s Chokehold / Breakfast In America.
There were more than a few young faces at last night’s concert.
But the vast majority giving Roger a prolonged standing ovation would have bought the original Breakfast In America album way back in 1979.
Over 18 million copies have been sold – the back cover of the original record sleeve features Supertramp sat at the bar of an American diner.
Each member of the group is reading a different newspaper, including our very own Manchester Evening News.

MANIPULATIVE? Certainly. A parody of itself? Sometimes looks that way.
But there’s no denying the TV genius that is The X Factor.
The 12 final acts have just been revealed on ITV1 – not all a surprise.
Even so, tonight’s TV reveal broke the series record for tears.
It had already been reported that girl band Hope had got through to the live studio finals.
They include Manchester born and raised Raquelle Gracie (pictured) – the super-confident one who does the splits.
Raquelle, 20, is the daughter of former Cheshire tycoon Mohammed Naviede, jailed in 1995 for a £45m fraud.
A former colleague spent part of that year covering his trial at the Old Bailey.
It is, of course, absolutely no reflection on Raquelle and her X Factor experience.

HAVE you got your Saturday night TV sorted yet?
Well, here’s a hint as to which side one royal viewer will be watching.
Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly says Prince Charles is a fan of the BBC1 series.
Stockport-born Tess was talking on last night’s Paul O’Grady Show.
An ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, she revealed that Charles told her:
“Do you know, I’ve always wanted to Tango.”
She added: “He’s a bit Tango fan – and it turns out he’s a bit of a Strictly fan.”
Paul is also a loyal viewer and said he’d love to take part in a future series, if he could devote 100 per cent of his time to it.
His partner of choice would be Russian dancer Lilia Kopylova, who won the third series with Darren Gough.

NEWS and pictures drop into my in box overnight about a new Wallace and Gromit TV film.
Trouble At’ Mill is a half hour adventure for BBC1 – the first since A Close Shave in 1995.
It features the cheese-loving inventor and his dog running a bakery business called Top Bun and a “who-doughnut” murder mystery.
Lancashire-born creator Nick Park has co-written the story, with filming due to start in January for screening in late 2008.
It’s great news for fans of the duo, especially those like me who never quite took to their big screen outings.
“I love making films for the cinema but the production of Chicken Run and Curse Of The Were-Rabbit were virtually back-to-back and each film took five years to complete,” says Nick.
“Trouble At’ Mill will be so much quicker to make and I can’t wait to get back into production,” adds the four-times Oscar winner.

THE casts of Emmerdale and EastEnders always deny there is any rivalry between the two soaps.
They are all actors doing a job – even when the shows go head-to-head in the schedules.
But Emmerdale executive producer Keith Richardson doesn’t have to be so diplomatic.
An hour-long special to mark the ITV1 soap’s 35th birthday was launched today.
To be screened later this month, it features Jack Sugden, played by Clive Hornby (pictured), at the centre of some explosive action.
And, yet again, the second half hour of the extended episode is likely to compete directly with the Queen Vic regulars.

HERE’S the actor who will play Mr Darcy in a new TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Elliot Cowan is currently starring as Henry V at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.
He will portray Jane Austen’s romantic hero in ITV Granada’s Lost In Austen – described as an “ingenious re-invention” of her original novel.
It features modern day heroine Amanda Price (Jemima Rooper), who swaps places with Elizabeth Bennett (Gemma Arterton).
Other cast members include Hugh Bonneville and Alex Kingston as Mr and Mrs Bennet and Lindsay Duncan as Darcy’s aunt Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Filming started yesterday in Leeds and Yorkshire.
Elliot, 31, begins shooting his scenes later this month.

“AND he’s still on his mobile telephone…he’s obviously not looked in his mirror.”
The words of Pc Michael Hambley as he follows yet another driver lost in a phone conversation.
Stand at the side of any road and you’ll soon spot someone holding a mobile behind the wheel.
Cars, vans, lorries, buses, it makes no difference.
Probably like you, I’ve seen drivers of all of the above welded to their phones.
And it almost goes without saying that – consumed in their conversations – they certainly haven’t seen me.

WHAT do you do when five South Pacific tribesmen turn up on your doorstep?
Well, you offer them a traditional Manchester welcome – glasses of Vimto all round.
Chief Yapa, Joel, Posen, Albi and JJ live a simple and happy life on the paradise island of Tanna.
But they flew half way across the world to take part in a new Channel 4 series called Meet The Natives.
Programme one at 9pm tonight sees them arrive in London before moving on next week to Manchester.
They stayed for a week at the Harpurhey home of mini cab driver Ray da Sliva, wife Julie and their two children.
As you’ll see for yourself, mixed race couple Julie and Ray (pictured below) were brilliant hosts and fine ambassadors for the city.
It was Julie who broke the ice with that offer of a special local beverage.
“We drink a lot of Vimto, so would you like a glass of Vimto…to try?”