You could tell that for Aled Jones it felt good to be home.

His concert at St Asaph Cathedral, on Saturday March 26, may have been delayed by nearly two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but for the assembled audience it was worth the wait.

The singer, radio and television presenter’s appearance in this beautiful venue, which had been beautifully lit for the occasion, marked the final concert on his tour of places of worship, which had him perform at cathedrals across the UK and saw him return to where it all began as a boy chorister at Bangor Cathedral, the previous night.

He walked out, accompanied by the voice of his friend and all-round National Treasure Dame Judi Dench, on the old Quaker hymn How Can I Keep From Singing, taken from his most recent album Blessings, recorded during lockdown.

As you would expect from a man with having celebrated over 40 years in showbusiness Aled is at ease on stage.

The audience immediately warmed to him thanks to his gentle whit, sarcastically joking that he was delighted to be back in North East Wales, while his daughter Emilia was in LA preparing to attend the Oscars in support of her Oscar winning movie Coda.

His acceptable take on toilet humour by way of his reviews of the cathedral’s rest rooms also amused the audience members.

While his charming personality proved popular it was his voice, we were all  here for.

His singing abilities he explained had been tested most recently with his appearance as Traffic Cone on The Masked Singer

Performance wise highlights included a moving rendition of How Great Thou Art, songs from hit movies Fiddler on the Roof and the Greatest Showman and a haunting duet with himself as a boy soprano on Pie Jesu.

Earlier we were treated to a tremendous performance by pianist and composer Tamara Konstantin with her trio, The Three Graces, featuring cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber and violinist Elly Suh, plus Brit nominee soprano Carly Paoli, whose medley of songs by screen great Judy Garland gave me goosebumps.

But the standout moments for me from Aled's performance would be his moving duet with veteran Harry Billing on If I Can Help Somebody and his spine tingling interpretation of the Welsh hymn Anfonaf Angel.

Aled Jones' devoted fans who had waited a long time to watch their hero at St Asaph Cathedral following this performance will be eagerly anticipating his return with another warm welcome guaranteed.