Imelda May casually pointed out that every time she plays Brighton the room gets bigger and fuller.

Her rise to stardom has not been so much meteoric but steady; a career based on talent and hard work which still feels like it has a long way to go.

With cross-generational and cross-genre appeal, her stunning looks, velvety voice, great songwriting skills and ability to cherry pick exceptionally talented collaborators graft a sexy contemporary sheen on to her heartfelt rockabilly/blues roots.

But there’s always a price to pay for success and it seems that May has sacrificed some of the guts and raw energy that launched Love Tattoo on to the scene. She’s slowed down the pace and headed further into the mainstream, a move that on the brink of the release of the Irish chart topping album Mayhem has gained her greater exposure and a broader fan base but will inevitably run the risk of alienating some of her original fans.

The show was pretty slow up until the last 15 minutes when she heated it up with Psycho and Mayhem. By that time the audience (of Radio 2-listening 50-somethings), who had mostly engaged with the show by slight foot shuffling and occasional stage-led hand clapping, proved to be exhausted and had nothing left to give.

But fans are fickle too and with top support acts like Knocksville cruising in from the coast, these three suited-and-booted, Brylcreemed babes make it all too easy to switch allegiance.