After pulling out of a scheduled date last January, Mel C, a good sport indeed, promised to return to Dublin at the earliest possible chance.

True to her word, she made it back by (faux) Paddy's Day to a hero's welcome from what looked like an extremely devoted contingent of Irish fans.

With the ghosts of the Spice Girls well and truly laid to rest although with girl power still in evidence, two very capable rock chicks prominent in the five-piece backing band and with less and less to prove, Mel C seems to be coming into her own.

Her powerful but sometimes overcooked voice was perhaps the most pointed of the talents the Spice Girls gave to the world, often sticking out like a sore thumb from the leaner elements of that group.

As part of a real-life rock band, however, she has found her range, also finding more room for subtlety among the noisier arrangements, no doubt due to her greater involvement in their composition.

Although, as a solo artist, Mel C is best known for her dance anthem I Turn To You, judging by Sunday's gig, rock music seems her true metier.

She angried up Bryan Adams's Baby, When You're Gone to a point that would have considerably upset the Canadian's middle-of-the-road sensibilities, and the Pixies-like Goin' Down (the song she chose to announce her solo career) was full of gusto and had a delicious edge to its heaviness.

To her credit, she ably subsumes the various genres into her own style without incongruity; whether headbanging or raving, the performance and the music are genuine Mel C.

The proceedings were infused with a carnival atmosphere that had lingered from the day's festival celebrations, and, as Mel duly noted for her encore, the sub-hip-hop singalong Never Be The Same Again, the sustained energy of a thoroughly enjoyable gig was due in no small part to the vocal enthusiasm of the audience.