THE Caribbean came to East Lancashire as Billy Ocean and his band brought sunshine to King George’s Hall.

After a slow start, the opening chords of Love Really Hurts Without You saw the crowd rise en masse, head for the stage and start dancing.

And they stayed on their feet for the rest of the night as the supreme entertainer ran through his whole repertoire of hits.

He may be 60, but Billy Ocean still has the voice – never missing a note all night.

With a brilliant band behind him plus three backing singers, all the hits from Lover Boy and a magnificent Red Light Spells Danger through to Suddenly all threatened to bring the house down.

Fans clamoured to get a handshake or even a kiss from the great man, swarming round the front of the stage.

At times the strength of the audience reaction appeared to take Billy by surprise and several sing-alongs showed how popular his songs are.

When the Going Gets Tough plus encores of Love Train and Caribbean Queen met with rapturous applause and after close to two hours, Billy bade farewell clutching a bunch of roses thrown on to the stage.

This was no cabaret show, however. Just a supreme entertainer and a great band doing what they do best.