There were 4,000 people in the Brighton Centre on Monday and most went home happy.

That's a fact. Katie Melua gave her audience a satisfying performance displaying her impressive vocal powers and belting out tune after tune.

But the feeling remains that such an obvious talent needs to push herself beyond the brand of jazz-lite mum-music she is famous for.

Melua has an amazing voice and hits Nine Million Bicycles and The Closest Thing to Crazy are catchy enough.

But only with her new song, Spider's Web, due for release in early March, did she hint at a new, edgier direction.

A quick scan around the Brighton Centre revealed most of her audience were 40 years-old or more. And there is nothing wrong with entertaining the older set.

But to become a true great, as Melua could, she needs to let herself go and push her talents to the limit.

A hard-working set which lasted an hour and 40 minutes included a number of cover versions including the Beatles' Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and Babylon Zoo's Spaceman.

Melua is certainly not the closest thing to lazy we have ever seen but with a little more work she could go a lot further.