What do women see in Will Young? It needs asking, because the majority of hand-wringing devotees at this show were female, and most seemed to have romantic feelings for the gay Pop Idol winner. Even if you excluded the mum brigade, who looked as if they just wanted to ruffle his hair, that left a few thousand nubile teens and their "Will, shake your bum!" banners. Forget the standard babble about this well-mannered politics grad being an unthreatening outlet for pubescent fantasies. These kids, like the smirking pair to my right, lustily singing every word, meant business.

Why, though? Whether cranking out contractual-obligation ballads or juicing it up with (much better) lounge-funk, their lust-object exuded the hairless appeal of a Ken doll. (Literally, to go by his anecdote about getting waxed for a video shoot.) Unusually for a pop "idol", he looked nonplussed at being the centre of attention. Where Idol runner-up Gareth Gates struts about in an Elvis jumpsuit, Young hides behind a limp T-shirt and skinny tie. His apologetic smiles and waves would have had Robbie Williams bellowing: "Not like that! This is how it's done!"

The one thing that didn't need a kick up the tiny backside was the music. The soft-soul leanings of Young's current album, Friday's Child - one of the year's biggest sellers - gave the show a slouchy, late-night texture. Young played it up, vamping moodily on the downbeat Very Kind and transforming OutKast's Hey Ya into an unrecognisable slow torch song. A more than decent singer, he seemed happiest when stretching himself, as on the gospelly squiggles of Your Game, and least comfortable with the teen fodder of his first album, such as the listless Westlife cover Evergreen. Fancy that - a reality star who is in it for the music. If Young would just lose the shyness, George Michael would have a credible rival.

· At Bridgewater Hall, Manchester (0161-907 9000), tonight. Then touring.