Pop groups are all about screaming fans, scandalous headlines and silly infighting, right?

Well, based on this checklist the harmonious The Saturdays come up short but for all the right reasons. It is just over a year since the quintet came to Brighton. Yet in that time the eye-catching girls – Frankie, Molly, Una, Rochelle and Vanessa – have a new-found sense of confidence.

Maybe it’s the tabloid presence and the sports star boyfriends, maybe they’ve just found their niche. But this performance at the Brighton Centre was fitting of the country’s biggest and best girl group.

New singles such as Ego and Forever Is Over were stand-outs in a show which was packed with hits.

The girls remained sassy and fresh throughout, with cheeky smiles and waves to the audience – proof that they enjoy what they do.

They even had the confidence to do their own take on two tracks by pop princess Rihanna and, as Simon Cowell so often says on The X Factor, “made it their own”.

Quite what Cowell would have made of some of the singing is another matter. But what with the neon lights, sparkly costumes and a stage with a life of its own, this was a minor criticism.

Chuck in a few carefully choreographed dance moves that can be replicated in mirrors and there was enough to keep the predominantly female crowd on their feet for the full 80-minute set.

More shows like this and The Saturday’s will continue to be the pop darlings of the country for the foreseeable future.