THE country was on the brink of war with Iraq as the Gulf crisis heightened by the day back in September 1990, but the Daily Echo’s headlines twenty five years ago were swamped by the news of another foreign invasion as Aussie heart-throb Jason Donovan came to town.

Southampton teenagers held banners and screamed and screamed all for the love of Jason Donovan as the city went wild for the Australian pop star, who was also known to millions as TV’s Scott Robinson on Australian soap, “Neighbours”.

Seven months earlier, back in February 1990, “Jason Mania” hit Southampton as huge queues – the likes of which had not been seen since the days of the Beatles – formed around the city’s Mayflower Theatre as fans, who were desperate for a ticket to see their hero, camped out on Commercial Road for 24 hours before the box office opened. Waiting at the front of the queue was North Baddesley mum Tina Gould who managed to clutch the first two tickets for her two daughters.

“It was worth every minute of the wait – the children will be delighted” a pleased Mrs Gould said.

She was one of thousands who queued all night for seats for the only concert the ‘Neighbours’ soap star was giving on the South Coast. Hundreds more were turned away by police and Mayflower staff in tears as their chance of getting tickets to see their idol slipped away in front of them.

When the night of the concert came around, close on five thousand teenage lungs showed their noisy appreciation of the 22-year-old Australian as he stepped on stage to kick off the first British date of his Doin' Fine' world tour. When he popped on stage, looking more like a romantic poet than a former inhabitant of the Neighbours' Ramsey Street, the sound system only just coped with the cacophony of noise from the screaming fans.

However the Daily Echo reviewer of the time was rather cutting in his critic of the Aussie heart-throb. “While his singing is adequate, his dancing is barely average and he displayed no ability with any of the musical instruments he tinkered with. When all you have to do is walk on, grin and wiggle to produce a frenzy amongst your audience, there must be a temptation not to bother with much else” wrote the reviewer.

As far as his fans were concerned, Jason and his competent nine-strong backing hand delivered the goods, with a brisk romp through his clutch of Aitken and Waterman-produced hits. The deliriously happy crowd surged towards the front to throw red roses and cuddly toys to their idol but there was no trouble and first aiders only treated a handful of fans overcome by excitement of it all.