RICHARD BATSON Star singer Michael Ball was in full flow with Love Changes Everything as the stately park hosted its second big outdoor show of the weekend.

RICHARD BATSON

Star singer Michael Ball was in full flow with Love Changes Everything as the stately park hosted its second big outdoor show of the weekend – hours after rock legend Bryan Adams electrified the same venue.

It was the same stage, the same lakeside arena of grass – but the two events were worlds apart. A sell-out Adams crowd stood to dance from start to finish in a pop festival style atmosphere. The Ball fans sat amid candlelit picnics for much of a more sedate show – with any early attempts to stand near the stage being greeted by complaints.

Ball opened his show wearing a white suit – which he said he regretted because it proved attractive to the swarms of bugs drawn to his brilliant spotlit figure.

He breezed through a selection of show songs, including some from his Phantom of the Opera past and the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang West End production from which he was taking a weekend break.

Ball crooned through lullabies as ducks lazily glided on the lake behind him in the gathering darkness, and fans sat back among their twinkling lanterns.

By the end, the crowd – a real mix of grannies, middle-aged couples, and families with children – were dancing to a rock and roll medley, covers of David Bowie's Life on Mars, and Robbie Williams' Millennium before a firework finale lit up the sky.

Adams had the bigger crowd, but was edged out by Ball in one-key rock and roll performance indicator.

While Bryan had a pair of briefs hurled at him during his mini-stage session, Ball disappeared under a M&S basketful of assorted lingerie.