New Kids on the Block, Metro Radio Arena

In the same way I was never crazy about Take That first time around, I'd also been a smidgen too old to jump onto the screaming NKOTB fanwagon when they launched themselves into the charts in the late eighties.

Nevertheless, I could (sort of) recreate the famous uh-oh-oh-oh-oh dance from You Got It (The Right Stuff) and was able to make a mental list of five pop-notch releases from their back catalogue while waiting for a swift white wine at the bar pre-concert.

And if this was going to be anything like Take That's comeback performance (their opening gig at the Arena still goes down as one of my favourite nights EVER), I was looking forward to loving it.

Within three seconds I realised this particular evening was not going to be in the same hemisphere as the aforementioned TT triumph.

The set was nothing to write home about, so I'll stop there... but the main difference was, the Arena was half full. It's a sad sight to see a black curtain draped from one side to the other - it gives the atmosphere a kick where it hurts before anyone's had time to say 'Wass-up New-cas-sullll!'

So that was a downer. Then I remembered the band's apparent lack of energy when it came to the dance routines. Polished to a fault they may have been but dynamic (save for Danny's breakdancing rush to the head) they were not.

The voices were none too shabby though and as they began to rattle through their now 20-year old suitcase of pop classics I guess you could call them, I started enjoying myself, in spite of myself... who knew.

Plus you have to give them credit - these fellas must be at least approaching the wrong side of 40 if not there already with a t-shirt on... good for them having a last hurrah on the road and recounting their chart-topping hits. Hurrah indeed.

We had the ballads: I'll Be Loving You Forever; Please Don't Go Girl; and If You Go Away... the pop selection featuring the Right Stuff, Tonight and Step By Step... and by the time they brought the evening to a close with the rousing Hangin' Tough, I was waving my hands in the air like I didn't have a care in the world.

I skipped down to the car park without a hint of a grumble anywhere on the horizon. I did not see that ending to the evening coming.

As my mate said succinctly in the car: "Fair play, they were no Take That, but I'd take them over Westlife any day of the week".

I think she could have a long career in one sentence critiques... couldn't have summed it up better myself.