Liza Minnelli will be appearing in Manchester on July 4 as part of only a handful of UK tour dates.

Her last tour of the country in 2008 was met with widespread critical acclaim, with one reviewer describing her stage performance as “extraordinary.”

She’s also won awards for fun over the years and she’s only one of a few entertainers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony award - four of the highest accolades the showbiz industry can bestow.

What can we expect from the Manchester concert?

“I have a new CD called Confessions and a lot of the songs on the album were completely new for me - I was aware of them, but had never recorded them.

"Songs like You Fascinate Me So and He’s A Tramp, beautifully written stuff I felt passionate about.

"I’ll be singing some of those and songs that I’m associated with, really proud of, songs that were written especially for me like Cabaret and New York New York,” she says.

I’ve often wondered what it feels like to perform live, to have several thousand people transfixed and hanging on your every word.

Liza turns tio the world of sport in a bid to describe the experience.

“It’s like a great game of tennis. You bat out a song and the audience come right back at you. You feed off each other.

"But to be a good performer, you have to be a good audience.

"So when you think that sounds right, I would enjoy that if I heard it, that’s when you start to think, it seems like we’re on the right track,” she says.

Liza’s first experience of performing came at the tender age of three when she appeared in the final scene of the 1949 film In The Good Old Summertime.

The movie starred her late mother, the legendary Judy Garland. More than 30 years later she would win an Academy Award for her performance as Sally Bowles in the iconic film, Cabaret. What are her abiding memories of her mother?

“She was one of the funniest people I’ve ever known and my best friend,” she says.

Liza gives tthe impression that she’s always keen to accept new challenges as an artist and it’s this insatiable enthusiasm that gives her the energy to carry on working. Good news then, for her legions of fans around the globe.

“I love the process of work. Working on a script, a lyric, putting a show together - the planning, the rehearsals, working everything out.

"I love what I do and it’s that what gives me my drive,” she says.

When it comes to relaxation, this international star likes nothing better to settle down with a good book and there are several good causes that are close to her heart, too.

“I’m most proud of my work for AIDS which includes Broadway Cares and the Sunburst Project, for children living with AIDS,” she says.

When Liza Minnelli last visited the UK she left the critics drooling, which leaves me in no doubt the audience is in for a night to remember.

* The Bridgewater Hall presents Liza Minnelli In Concert on July 4 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 0161 907 9000 or you can book online at www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk