THE Beautiful South's niche in the cheesier side of Englishness - more Bernard Matthews "bootiful" than anything more perfectly formed - has garnered them a following whose size only became apparent when sales of their greatest hits album, Carry On Up The Charts, exploded out of control. Some were attracted by their detached, subversive irony, but more flocked to their obvious geniality and music hall, middle of the road pleasantness.

At their peak they had a valuable directness, and their opener at the Point on Saturday night, We Are Each Other and their tour de force Old Red Eyes Is Back, were given sufficiently stirring renditions to remind us of that. But their star is on the wane, and the decline, heralded by (Give Me) One Last Love Song - sounding as terrible as ever - is really too obvious on stage, as the more recent tunes from Blue Is The Colour trundled ponderously under their own weight.

The band realise this as much as anyone and dot, enough old singles here and there to stave off the restlessness, but even 36D lacked the potency of old, and the show smacked of the professionalism which has replaced inspiration: a music stand that makes sure lyrics go unforgotten, art deco ornaments that - embellish the stage, aimless trumpet solos and enough musicians to form a football team - lent a polished, if dull, feel to the proceedings.