Despite picking up a Mercury Music Prize nomination for her debut album as FKA Twigs, dating Robert Pattison has quickly catapulted Tahliah Barnett to the news pages.

Their allegiance has been marred – and presumably the lead up to her debut UK tour, too - by racist tweets, which began after pictures emerged of the pair holding hands in Hollywood.

Neither issue dampened the spirits of the crowd before the tour opener in Brighton. There was a buzz of excitement at catching the former backing dancer for Kylie Minogue and Jessie J in an intimate venue she’ll not play again.

But were the issues on Barnett’s mind? Has the early hype come too soon?

She seemed aloof, removed and overly self-conscious. The traits somehow feel like qualities on record but were a barrier on stage. Deathly silences between songs were broken only when half-way through the set she admitted she last performed in Brighton on the pier “and no one looked”.

Difficult as it was to take your eyes off Barnett’s sensuous, precise choreography, the slow, icy dub and cranking R&B reworks stuttered.

In truth, it was all a little boring – she failed to connect with the crowd or her three drum pad wielding 1980s throwbacks who looked as if they’d been hired that morning.