Jack Johnson at St James

Jack Johnson's voice is mellow, sexy and effortlessly clear.

Jack Johnson flops on stage in jeans, T-shirt and Jandals, breathes "Hey" into the microphone and launches into Taylor: "She just wanders around, unaffected by, the winter winds, yeah."

It's a no-frills start, yet entirely appropriate for a guy who'd look more at home strumming his guitar in a hammock or by a fire on the beach.

When he gets to the part about Taylor pretending to be "2000 miles from here", suddenly the grandeur of the St James seems ridiculous.

That Johnson is so obviously unaffected by his success - the tour follows his number-one album In Between Dreams - is a blessing and a curse.

A man of few words, he leaves the charm to his breezy, easily recognisable songs from albums Brushfire Fairytales, On and On and In Between Dreams. Live, his voice is more impressive than on record - mellow, sexy and effortlessly clear, especially when it soars as it does on the beautiful new song Breakdown.

There are, however, times when you yearn for those happy-go-lucky guitar grooves to break into something more dramatic, or for Johnson to say something, anything, to rattle the crowd. And while there's nothing wrong with the music, perhaps it would be better in an intimate setting.

Thankfully, his attempts to spice up some of the songs are well-received. There's a fun go at singing Sitting, Waiting, Wishing backwards - he claims he had to learn it that way to perform it on the video - covers of Cat Stevens, Bob Marley and Sublime and a "dorky" love song partly in French, partly in Hawaiian kid-slang that's accompanied by a guy on piano accordion.

Later, support artists Xavier Rudd, G. Love and the accordionist join Johnson's three-piece band on stage for a jam. Even Rudd's contribution on didgeridoo works, although G. Love's forced rap doesn't do him any favours.

The highlight is when Johnson performs alone. The most memorable song of the night is The News, a touching ballad in the encore that has the audience eating out of his hand.