Everyone wants to love Tracy Chapman, a sort of Paul Simon without the annoying bits. The opposite of shallow, she crafts sensitive, intelligent songs and delivers them with a quivering voice that conveys a kind of strength through struggle. For all that though, it is hard to be anything other than underwhelmed by her live show.

What was missing on Monday was any sense of occasion. Singers that have nothing more to say to an audience than the names of their band lose most of their power, and the lack of light and shade emphasised the worthiness of her music. It's not that any of her songs are bad - far from it. They churn away in a countryish way, and none of them would sound out of place on the best Cowboy Junkies records. But they wouldn't really stand out either. Everything is a bit too one-paced, and all pitched at the same emotional level. How much more powerful she would be if she mixed the darkness of her best songs with some light.