Brian McFadden brought the curtain down on his first solo UK tour at the Brighton Centre on Sunday with a lively gig which promised brighter things ahead.

In the past 18 months, cherubfaced McFadden has made some major changes. He has ditched his career with Westlife, left his wife, Kerry "Queen of the Jungle" Katona and dropped the "Y" from his first name.

And he has replaced them with a handful of confessional rock songs, a scruffy black coat and a beard.

He seems to be telling us that all the time he has been performing soppy ballads and daft dance routines - and shifting CDs by the tonne - he has been inwardly burning with Cobainean angst.

At any rate, Brian looks like he's trying to grow up, artistically at least, and become a more honest performer, rather than 20 per cent of a synthetic boy band.

In doing so, he's performing a difficult balancing act, trying to appeal to a new fan base while not losing his existing fans. On the evidence of Sunday's audience, he's getting the mix about right but still lacks the genuine crossover pop appeal of a Robbie or a Kylie.

That balancing act was reflected by his choice of support. There was a prototype Westlife in the form of Zoo, with one hit in their native Ireland already under their belt.

The second support act, Fleet, a five-piece from Essex, were quite a contrast, providing some driving rock in the tradition of the Stones, Led Zep and The Stone Roses, with plenty of attack and flair. In fact, they could be ones to watch.

The same could be said for the headline act, who will win over a lot of new fans if he can find a way to put across his cheeky personality on record.

He spent much of the evening - and considerably more time than most artists - bantering wittily with the audience about all kinds of topics, from a rather raunchy exchange to the wisdom of trying a country and western direction.

He also promised that his new album would be more upbeat, which comes as something of a relief, frankly, after the self-pity of such songsas Walking Disaster.

On the strength of some of his new material and the reception of singles Real To Me, Irish Son and Almost Here, sung with the audience standing in for warbling songbird Delta Goodrem, this gig won't be his final curtain.