London, Nov 17 (IANS) Revered British folk singer Yusuf Islam - once known as Cat Stevens - has been booed by fans at an eagerly-awaited comeback concert after he allowed another singer to perform some of his best-known songs on stage.
“Now I know what (Bob) Dylan felt like,” Stevens told his audience in Dublin at the weekend after some fans booed while others gave a standing ovation in his first concert tour in 33 years.

Fans who greeted his well-known songs with rapturous applause turned against him when he paused his performance for a 40-minute preview of his forthcoming musical, ‘Moonshadow’, The Times reported.

They began walking out when the musical’s cast “trouped on to act, dance and deliver a mix of new material and the Cat Stevens classics ‘Father and Son’ and ‘Wild World’,” the newspaper said.

“In London’s West End, where it is due to open next year, ‘Moonshadow’ could go down a storm. In front of an audience who had come to hear Islam trawl his back catalogue, it was never going to work,” the Times critic wrote.

But Islam ended the concert on a high note for the bulk of the audience - who had stayed back - with a lengthy, rocky rendition of ‘Peace Train’ and a “spine-tingling” version of ‘Father and Son,’ two of his enduring hits.

The Islam tour moves to Birmingham and Liverpool before hitting the Royal Albert Hall in London Dec 8.