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Roachford is a cool guy. He's doing music his way with not a care about what's been happening in black music. There he is on stage dressed in white, with his crack band. They sound funky, they sound rocky, they exude a lot of power. Usually for a support act which started at 7.30pm, the arena is amazingly about 80% full. It takes just a little while for the audience to warm to Roachford, and when they show their appreciation he pokes a dig at them for now clapping.

The man is serious about his music but not about himself - he has a good rapport with the audience with his wisecracks. You should have seen his bogle style dance during `Cuddly Toy', one of his set's highlights, as was `Deeper'. Bofore long, it was all over with the last strains of `Lay Your Love On Me'. In the audience was Sony UK chairman Paul Burger, who was evidently enjoying the gig. We couldn't resist encouraging him to get the Sony machinery a bit more behind Roachford to get him unto the next rung up. The guy needs to be massive.

An act that's already massive is M People. You should have heard the roar as Heather Small walked on stage after the rest of the band had begun getting into the first song. From the "M People?" response we got from a few friends after telling them about having been to the concert. So it would seem love or hate them. The areana was certainly packed with more of the former. The band just couldn't do any wrong. And we're talking about a generally mature audience. Heather first performed in a long wine coloured dress, and later she wore a black trouser getup - we got hit after hit.

I soon sussed out one of the reasons for their huge popularity, especially as they're really a dance band, even if on the poppy side. Songs like their `Fantasy Island' (now those horn lines sound very familiar but we just can't pin it down), `Someday', `Moving On Up', etc express universal themes of hope, optimism and brotherly love.

Somehow the audience wouldn't let them go. They demanded a second encore and the band obliged with two songs, one of which is a junglified version of `Avalon'! They had simple but effective drapped backdrops with live and psychedelic images being projected onto it, plus two giant video monitors on either side of the stage. M People have been collecting funds for Multiple Sclerosis Society (telephone 0171 610 7171, or the helpine: 0171 371 8000. E-mail: info@mssociety.org.uk)

Reference: http://www.musiclinks.co.uk/chilln/kwaku/dec/mpeople.htm