She is the daughter of bossa nova king Joao Gilberto and her first album Tanto Tempo sold more copies outside Brazil than any other Brazilian album.

But sadly the crowd drawn to see Bebel Gilberto in Brighton only half-filled the concert hall.

The empty seats seemed to displease the Latino chanteuse, who was obviously distracted as she opened with the gorgeously soulful Simplesmente.

The crackle of rapport which should have sparked during this song was sadly lacking and instead an awkward kind of anticipation hung in the air.

Although she sung beautiful tracks from her first album and this year's eponymous follow-up, Gilberto appeared to be going through the motions, with rehearsed moves rather than raw emotions.

At times her voice lacked clarity and precision, although this wasn't helped by very dubious sound quality.

Often her vocals were lost within a mash of strumming and percussion, creating a one-dimensional fuzz rather than an intricate wall of sound.

This certainly wasn't the fault of her brilliant backing band, who played electronically enhanced bossa nova with technical excellence and a delicious jazz/funk edge.

The exquisite appeal of many of Gilberto's songs is their intimacy, yet here she made them sound disappointingly formulaic.

Her mood did pick up towards the end of her set when, after seemingly not trying hard enough, she began trying too hard with cliched showbiz antics such as over-the-head arm waving and clapping.

Being a huge fan of her first album and a slow convert to her second, I found this performance lacked the humbleness and honesty I'd been expecting. I can only hope Gilberto was having a bad night and that we weren't seeing a diva in the making.