In its long distinguished history Eastleigh's Concorde Club has staged many milestone events.

It can now add to the list that it was the place where one of the Osmonds made their farewell performance.

Merrill, the 71 year lead singer and bassist of one of pop's most famous families, returned to the Stoneham Lane club to sign off a career spanning nearly seventy years.

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Earlier Osmond fans had the treat of afternoon tea with the pop legend. In a heated garden marquee he took part in a Q&A session and talked about his new book documenting a career which began when he was four.

In the evening Osmond mania swept the Stoneham Lane Club as Merrill's swansong include a production line of Osmond and solo hits. On a screen at the back of the stage was was film archive of a young Merrill with one of the most famous families on the planet.

They were the hottest tickets in town as a packed Concorde audience, many wearing sparkly Osmond T-shirts, sang along – they knew every word – to timeless tunes which were the soundtrack to their teenage lives.

Every number in the set, lasting nearly two hours, hit the spot in a night of pure pop nostalgia as Merrill rolled back the years after hitting the ground running with what has become an Osmond anthem, Crazy Horses.

Arms swayed and mobile camera lights lit up every corner of the club for a playlist which included Love Me For A Reason, Let Me In, Down By the Lazy River and Having A Party. As retirement parties go this beat them all.

Merrill also paid tribute to his rock buddies, Paul McCartney ( I Saw Her Standing There), Elvis (Can't Help Falling In Love) and Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline).

And he paid tribute to his fans with the heartfelt tune, Through The Years. In an emotion charged farewell Merrill said: “Thankyou for all the years you have given my family. I am going home after 67 years. I started when I was four.”

His final exit from the stage was appropriately to the seventies hit, Goin' Home which he penned with brothers Alan and Wayne.

It was the end of an era and one that Osmond fans and The Concorde will never forget.