Review SHAKIRA Porchester Hall

BEARING in mind that she has won numerous awards, including a Grammy, and sold 25 million albums, last night's invitation-only showcase by Colombian superstar Shakira was probably the smallest concert she has played for years.

But if she thought playing to a mere 400 people was beneath her, it didn't show as she pranced, wiggled and roared her way through a spirited set that earned an enthusiastic response, which, when you're talking about an industry crowd, is really saying something.

Looking and acting younger than her 28 years, she glowed with health, vitality and confidence as she opened with Costume, which set out an unashamedly Colombian stall.

On this song, as on most, her voice was strong and at times tender, incorporating the sexy South American yodelling effect that fans will recognise from her hits.

At times, during this track and also on the brilliant Underneath Your Clothes (the only track not to come from her new album) there were points where her voice sounded rather strangulated on the high notes, and I suspected that a pre-recorded vocal track was backing her up during some of the more challenging phrases.

Nonetheless, her overall showmanship was superb. If wiggling one's body to music was a martial art, Shakira would have been awarded a black belt years ago, as her jawdropping antics last night proved.

Having presumably moved on from the booty-shaking phase that first brought her international stardom with Whenever, Wherever, she performed extraordinary feats of rhythmic puppetry with her perfectly rounded stomach.

Her breasts, too, seemed to move independently, as though attached to strings operated behind her back, especially as she sang La Tortura (Torture), the most authentically Latin track of the night.

But, as she closed with Don't Bother, a splendidly feisty slice of rocky pop and the first single from her new album Oral Fixation Pt 2 - where the cover features an apple- wielding, scantily- clad Shakira in the Garden of Eden - it occurred to me that every aspect of her performance was carefully stage-managed.

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