After shifting 20m copies of his first two albums, Nelly has been catapulted into rap's superleague. However, the former Cornell Haynes Jr doesn't seem entirely comfortable there: he spends his long-awaited UK debut avoiding the spotlight and relaxing in the company of his long-time St Louis crew, the St Lunatics.

Take away Nelly's cherubic good looks and it would be impossible to decide which rapper was the star. At one point the enigmatic 25-year-old is even rapping from the shadows.

Whether he's feeling the pressure or just playing coy, Nelly's tactics place the focus on the music that put him up there. The first 40 minutes are blistering old-skool hip-hop that flies in the face of critics who suggest Nelly isn't "real". Armed only with turntables and their voices, the sextet give a stadium the atmosphere of a sweaty club.

Like Eminem, Nelly has achieved his massive success without excessive reliance on hip-hop cliches, and while armies of dancers demonstrate rap's historical use of waggling bottoms, this may just be the first rap show to banish the expression: "Make some noise!"

As Nelly gradually dips in pop elements to screams that echo Beatlemania, he illustrates why other rappers get so steamed up about him and why he outsells them. His tunes know how to party.

Yet Nelly remains in control, even when the number Hot in Herre prompts thousands of women to sing that they're about to take their clothes off. Nelly acknowledges the applause, but the seemingly shy superstar doesn't even remove his T-shirt.