Usher Raymond, who is 25, currently has three singles in the US top 10, breaking records set by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. In the UK, his latest, Confessions, shot to number one, and over two months later is still in the top 10. Even his former *N Sync colleague Justin Timberlake can't touch those sales figures.

The impression of an unstoppable phenomenon is cemented when Usher descends in Manchester under celestial bright lights, wearing a white space suit that makes him look like an astronaut, or someone who should be accompanied by 12 disciples. Instead, the R&B/pop money-spinner has dancers in spangly pants, and he walks on his hands and performs backwards somersaults, while more complex miracles are taken care of by hydraulic lifts. It's a performance in every sense.

We learn little about the man behind the myth except that Usher sweats more than Tom Jones and has a thing for bowler hats. His sultry ballad Confessions tells of getting an ex pregnant, but it is based on the experience of Jermaine Dupri, one of his A-list producers. The most revealing Usher gets is when his trousers fall to reveal several inches of black boxer-shorts. But aside from the occasional risque line, most mothers would love their daughters to bring him home. When he asks Manchester to make some noise he's so polite he could be asking to borrow a lawnmower.

Usher has a good voice (high-pitched Marvin Gaye), slick rather than great songs which dip into doo-wop and blue-eyed soul, and isn't jawdroppingly handsome. So there's nothing extraordinary, apart from his effect on teenage girls, including one from the audience, serenaded with flowers on a couch until she turns to jelly.

It helps that his last number - the electro-stomping Yeah! - is arguably his best. Thus the Usher phenomenon is likely to continue, at least until the girls grow older, or his trousers get stuck around his waist.

· At Wembley Arena tonight. Box office: 0870 060 0870.