Macy Gray

Superstardom has crept up so quickly on Macy Gray, you wonder if her soul can survive the spotlight. The lady with the raspberry voice and the passionfruit tunes was supposed to make her Irish debut at the Olympia, but a certain matter of 80,000 album sales in 1999 meant that only the Point could accommodate the extra demand for tickets.

Six foot tall and wearing bright red velvet, Gray could certainly be seen from the back; she did her best to be heard, too, letting her quirky voice do cartwheels and somersaults over the band's trampoline-tight backing. Why Didn't You Call Me?, Do Something and I've Committed Murder set a comfortable, r&b tone, but Sex-O-Matic Venus Freak injected a bit of dirty ol' funk into the proceedings.

"Have you ever been in love with the wrong motherf--ker?" she asked to a resounding affirmative, but her current single, Still, was the mindblowing highlight of the night.

Anyone who came just to hear her big hit, I Try, certainly got his or her money's worth: Gray and the band stretched the song almost to breaking point. Still, the lady delivered a fine if flawed show, and her soul definitely withstood the pressure.