During Spider's Web, Katie Melua's self-penned peace song, a scuffle broke out in the crowd. Security guards pulled people off each other and dragged one man away. No one looked bothered. After all, how much harm can you come to during a song that reduces race wars to the contrasting colours of piano keys? “It was probably someone talking too loudly,” sniggered the woman in the seat beside me.

Certainly, you don't go to a Melua gig for high drama or music that has ever strayed close to a cutting edge, which sums up why critics so dislike the 24-year-old adopted Londoner, born in war-torn Georgia, who recently ranked seventh in a list of Britain's richest young musicians. Another reason was obvious from the moment Melua - looking chic and skinny in a short, purple designer dress, boots and black blazer - sauntered on unannounced and started the show solo. However tame the material, her voice was rarely short of astounding. As she plucked at an electric guitar for a spooky Piece by Piece or played piano on the old folk ballad Lilac Wine, it was hard to tear your eyes off her. Yes, the mournful Yellow Leaves had a touch of Eurovision, but it was captivating nonetheless.

You suspect that there is more to Melua than meets the eye, or rather more than she has yet permitted the public to see. Her current Best of collection brings down the curtain on perhaps the most peculiar writing partnership in pop - with her mentor and manager Mike Batt. Last year's Pictures album saw the singer trying out new styles - among them reggae on the set highlight Ghost Town and twangy rock on Scary Films, accompanied by black and white footage - while her new single, Two Bare Feet, was upbeat, bass-backed R&B with a faint party feel.

If the hope was to attract younger fans it appears to be working. There was an even ratio of under-forties to over-fifties. Whether the former will stick with a modern Melua may be a worry. Many put up with newer songs but eagerly applauded old hits, notably The Closest Thing to Crazy and Nine Million Bicycles.

Melua had gone to town on visuals. Her five-piece band first appeared as images on an electronic screen behind her for a jazzy My Aphrodisiac is You and were introduced individually as faces on Wild West-style “Wanted” posters. Shoehorn some of that strangeness into her music and Melua could have a hip future.

Tonight, Bournemouth BIC; Tues, Brighton Centre

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