From his western name to his accessible patois delivery, 30-year-old Jamaican Sean Paul is a dancehall reformer. His wily packaging and canny alliances speak volumes. Rather than choose between being a reggae singer or DJ (in reggae, a DJ is an MC or rapper) he is a "sing-jay", who does both. Duets with R&B royalty like Beyoncé Knowles and rappers Busta Rhymes and DMX show his appeal to new constituencies.

Add to this Paul's background as a privately educated former member of Jamaica's national water polo team, which has not lessened his common touch, and it's hard not to see him as dancehall's Tony Blair. With his second album, Dutty Rock, now selling over 200,000 in the UK, this could have been his victory rally.

The 2001: A Space Odyssey intro suggested we were in for a show. But it heralded a barren stage with visual relief provided by four female dancers doing pelvic floor exercises. Paul galloped on like a sitcom tennis coach: headband and white fitted jacket. There was a thank you to "all the lovely ladies in London city" for buying the album, and then a protracted struggle to reproduce some of its clean lithe sounds.

Paul growled through a terrible trebly squall as the drummer smashed out a rhythm. This turned out to be Baby Girl. His new converts - white couples holding hands and not pumping their groins - waited patiently for the other hits. I'm Still in Love with You is a dancehall/lovers rock hybrid which works precisely because it boasts fabulous horns and backing chorus. Luckily he'd bought a tape of those. When he sang along you wanted to shush him to stop spoiling it.

Like Glue really showed his shortcomings. He can "chat" (the dancehall equivalent of rapping) all right, but melodies are bent out of shape on impact with his tonsils. After an hour, he disappeared. No encore. Still, give him time. He's building a global brand here. A lunch with the Darkness talking "showmanship" might help.