Ronan Keating at the North Shore Events Centre

11.15pm - By RUSSELL BAILLIE

God bless ya Ronan Keating. You're such a lovely fella. Nice manners, nice hair, nice teeth, nice suit, nice moves (all three of them) all caught on the very nice video screens. Oh and quite a nice voice too. As for songs ... well. you can't have everything can you?

Yes, if there's a reason that Irish star Keating hasn't done "a George Michael" - or as it's been more recently known "a Robbie" - in the solo post-boy band phase of his career, it's down to an abundance of wish-washy tunes.

And if there was a reason, his Auckland show tonight didn't exactly turn into a raging pop frenzy, it was those songs - and the many covers that have propped up his sets since the 'zone days - came delivered so wish-washily. Propelled by a seven-piece band, the Keating's own songs kind of began, wandered along amiably and then finished at pretty much the same place they began.

There were a few moments that briefly found a higher gear. A rocky number titled Joy and Pain managed some emotional grit care of an intro speech about visiting Thailand at the invitation of Unicef (even if its chorus had serious echoes of James Taylor's Fire and Rain).

There was a version of We've Got Tonight - on which he played the Kenny Rogers to his excellent backing singer's Sheena Easton - was a admirable vocal showcase. While the night's biggest joy-of-pop moment- other than inevitable hit encore Love is a Rollercoaster - was a strangely shiny, nicely enunciated version of Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl.

But having that hoary old chestnut as a highlight must be bit of a worry for an aspiring global pop god in his 20s.

Occasionally Keating did play that part, loosening his tie and undoing a few shirt buttons to produce a some ripples of excitement among the 2000-plus multi-generational, mostly ardent female audience.

But really nice is all Keating was. Nice and forgettable and utterly PG - yes, Keating is Robbie Williams after the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards has called in the lawyers.