/> Though he recently held a rousing concert in Dubai, for all practical purposes, Himesh left on the night of July 25 for his first world tour.

"We'll be covering 18 cities in approximately 45 days. It's taken me and my troupe six months of preparations. All I can promise at this stage is a spectacular concert in all the US and Canadian cities where we'll perform."

This latest Bollywood concert-tour abroad is expected to dispel the notion that the best times for Mumbai's entertainers out West are over.

According to reports filtering in from the venues of Reshammiya's purported concerts the interest rate in 'Aapka Suroor Live' concerts are far higher than for any of the concerts by Bollywood's big stars.

Himesh has quite a line-up of items The tickets for Himesh's concerts for many US cities are already sold out. "Our tour begins in Atlanta. I'll be singing live for one hour and fifteen minutes.

Vinita and Himani will sing my songs. We've Alisha who would of course be doing her Kajra re number(which isn't mine) and then we have Udita Goswami to do item numbers."

Himesh has been working round the clock to take this time off for his first world tour. "I planned it this way. I cleared my backlog of assignments. There's no major films released in September-October. When I return on 3 September I'll immediately resume my composing work. No one will suffer."

Himesh left in a flurry of excitement. "I'm feeling on top of the world. Performing live is a different high. The whole concert is planned on a very grand scale. I'll get to react with audiences in the US on a one-to-one basis."