INXS at Logan Campbell Centre

JD Fortune ensures INXS stays popular. Sandra Mu / Getty Images

What a mixed mob this lot are. There are converts of TV's Rockstar phenomenon - the reality show where INXS found their new singer, JD Fortune. There's a distinct female fan club watching Fortune's every move. For some, like the young fella on his dad's shoulders, it is the first chance to see INXS live.

But the majority are here to critique how Fortune fills the very big boots left by their beloved Michael Hutchence who died in 1997.

Even if you don't like the Rockstar idea, Fortune comes closest to trading places with Hutchence after many disappointing replacements like Terence Trent D'Arby and New Zealand's Jon Stevens.

The Saturday night crowd, the first of two sell-out INXS shows in Auckland, love him. He loves us too, pounding his heart in recognition of how much noise the room is making.

Fortune makes the old songs, such as Original Sin, New Sensation and Suicide Blonde, his own. And the new songs (especially hit single Pretty Vegas) also stand out. There are a few songs off their latest album, Switch, which drag, like Perfect Strangers and the raunchy Hot Girls, but the beautiful, soaring Afterglow is one of the night's highlights.

Fortune has a Tom Jones quality - strong on the deep and brooding notes, mid-range he's a rock'n'roll star, and then he also has a falsetto trill.

Then there are his on-stage antics - lunging into the mic stand, puffing away on cigarettes, and drinking wine from the bottle. He throws out plastic cups to the front row and fills their glasses - and those who don't have a glass get it poured down their throats.

Fortune has revitalised this band who formed back in 1977. Saxophone player, Kirk Pengilly, looks pretty good, except for the ghastly shirt; while guitarist Tim Farris' pelvic thrusts and beckoning come-ons during Need You Tonight are a little creepy. But the overall feeling is that these boys can still play. They are tight.

After the show there are mutterings from a few fans who agree that if Hutchence was still alive it's unlikely INXS would be touring the world. And they'd be right. Fortune is a good find, but he's almost too good to be hanging out with an aged rock band.