For anyone wishing to know the current health of British soul and pop music, then they need to look no further than the Olivia Dean tour to discover that everything is in top shape.

Jalen Ngonda provided the ideal match to open for Dean on the second of two sold-out nights at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena. His soulful songs owe a huge debt to the sounds of Motown sprinkled with a touch of modernity.

That the majority of the audience knew the words to his songs showed that Ngonda is known and held in high regard not only by his own fanbase.

Sat behind his piano for Come Around and Love Me, he charmed any doubters with a soulful rendition of the song, making the huge arena seem more intimate. By the time he rounded off his far too short set with If You Don’t Want My Loving, the atmosphere in the arena and accompanying applause were testament to that of a headliner act.

On one of her many appearances at the Co-op Live Arena, Olivia Dean was picking up three Brit Awards, adding to her Grammy as Best New Artist. Her rise to fame might have seemed to be an easy rise; in contrast, she has been perfecting her craft for over seven years.

As a fan held up a sign saying that she had been following the singer since 2019, Dean replied, 'What a musical journey it had been for both of them to get where they both were tonight – five years ago she was playing the 600-capacity Blues Kitchen in Manchester; her audience tonight was forty times that.'

In a glitzy and elegant performance, Dean held her audience in her grip from beginning to end in what was a comforting, refreshing and reassuring show that was based on songs that will be remembered and played in twenty years' time.

Opening with the first of many showstoppers Nice to Each Other it all felt like this was a moment to savour in the presence of one of the leading talents of British soul music. Her confidence was natural, her charm infectious and her appeal magnetic.

Her stage presence and the gesture of raising her hands in the air to make a song even more dramatic felt like a nod to Diana Ross – a point made even more pertinent with the glamorous dresses – three in all tonight – that made the observation more valid.

The jazz-tinged songs came with a mixture of old-school artists from Swing out Sister to Sade, (artists that her young Gen Z fans might not have heard). The atmosphere changed when she sat down with her long-time bassist and guitarist for a stripped-back version of UFO, which gave a more vulnerable insight into her character.

That vulnerability was emphasised even further as she appeared alone on a second stage in the middle of the area to perform three tracks, with The Hardest Part sounding fragile yet beautifully sung with Dean now wearing a white floaty gown.

A rousing version of the Curtis Mayfield hit, Move On Up only seemed to be present as a way of introducing her band members when it could have been used instead to showcase her vocal prowess.

Ending with her biggest hit, Man I Need, this had been a glowing and classy performance where all the elements of a successful career aligned together. There had been no dancers, no pyrotechnics, just a shower of confetti at the end – Dean doesn’t need them; her talent and sincerity shone brightly in what had been a highly joyful show.