After four decades in the business and 130 million albums sold, it's not surprising that Engelbert Humperdinck knows exactly what his audiences want.

Nor is it all surprising to see him serve up a show that did exactly that.

In front of an adoring Civic Centre crowd, the 60-plus romantic balladeer offered an evening that was part Las Vegas-style revue and part nostalgia.

And though Humperdinck's once monstrously powerful 31/2- octave voice didn't quit have all the mustard of days gone by, he still carried himself off remarkably well

Humperdinck's forte has always been to capitalize on the smooth, bass bottom easy listening sound that was first made popular by Bert Kaempfert and more recently the British duo Peters & Lee.

It's a sound that turns what normally would be deemed tepid ballad material into something with a little more flavor to it.

This was the sound that made up a healthy portion of the evening and it worked especially well on Perry Como's It's Impossible, his own monster single After The Lovin' and Patsy Cline's Crazy.

As was the case with our own vocal favorite Anne Murray, Humperdinck has also recorded a disc of classics from the '50s.

He dipped into that collection last night with touching renditions of Nat King Cole's Too Young.

One of the more surprising elements of the evening was Humperdinck's familiarity with the audience.

Thankfully, he allowed himself to joke around with the audience, which certainly torqued up the interactive element of the evening.

After stuffing a bright orange handkerchief in his pants he joked: "I only put one handkerchief in my pants, Tom Jones uses 20."

Another time he sat at the piano and laid on impressions of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis singing That's Amore; a deadly version of a shirt-ripped open era Elvis doing Wooden Heart and Heartbreak Hotel, as well as Julio Iglesias doing a disco version of To All The Girls I've Loved Before.

Later in the show he brought daughter Louise on stage while he nipped off to change.

She began with a shaky take of Jo Dee Messina's country hit Bye Bye, but came back to redeem herself with a strong rendering of You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.

An entertainer of Humperdinck's stature would be a fool to leave out any of his major hits in a show like this because that's why the crowds still come out.

To that end he gave them Spanish Eyes, The Last Waltz and Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, and the thousands in front of him sang along as one.

This show may not have compared with the big production rock shows we're used to seeing these days but Engelbert Humperdinck gave this crowd the kind of evening they were hoping for.

JAM! Rating: 3 out of 5