Nobody booed this time. Roberto Alagna didn't flounce off the stage, as he famously did in December 2006 after nasty noises from La Scala's cheaper seats and one aria's worth of Aïda.

In any case, the atmosphere in the Barbican Hall was a world away from that bearpit in Milan. Here, this tenor “divo” was entirely among friends - his wife Angela Gheorghiu included, who was the encore recipient of an unaccompanied love song. Alagna wooed the whole audience too, with every gesture and most of his notes. “Very nice to be here,” he said, before settling into another Verdi aria of abject suffering.

Indeed, it was nice to have him. The colours and depth of Alagna's tenor may seem cloudy and pinched compared with the sunshine glow of opera's newest shooting star, Juan Diego Flórez. But the Verdi repertoire in this recital with the London Symphony Orchestra rarely needed a smiling voice. And his tone up at the top only occasionally seemed balding.

As for spectacle - slightly comic spectacle, admittedly - he never, ever disappointed. Is there a link between Alagna's somewhat constrained dramatic skills and the Las Vegas rigours of his stance, body leaning forward, right hand pinned to chest or lapel, left hand stretched toward an invisible microphone or a sob? Maybe a doctor can advise.

Still, if our divo didn't fully convince as Alfredo, or Don Alvaro, or Radames, others in his Verdi gallery leapt into lurid life. The libertine's anthem La donna è mobile, one of the encores, was tossed off with rollicking grins and character. Quite frightening, really.

As for Otello's death aria Niun mi tema, with a limp Desdemona impersonated by Alagna's jacket, what can one say? Outrageous, hammy, naive, affecting: it was tragedy, Jim, but not as we know it.

And there was always Verdi's vigour to enjoy. We ranged the corpus from early to late. The London Symphony Chorus made lusty Gypsies and Hebrew slaves. And the LSO didn't need Ion Marin, nimble conductor though he was, to whip up a gleaming noise.

This wasn't a night of deep musical insights or the ultimate in tenor finesse. That said, I and many others wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette