People are divided on Craig David. For some, he is the spearhead of UK garage, whose pioneering "two-step" music has swept him to two number ones and a record three Music of Black Origin awards (best single, best newcomer, and best R&B act). But others point to the man's ludicrous two hours every three days in the barber's chair (getting his hair waxed), and his musical similarity to 1980s smoothies Shakatak. What nobody has considered is that Craig is one of the most remarkable teen phenomena since Donny Osmond.
He is in Sheffield City Hall for only his sixth ever gig. The crowd is almost exclusively female, many under 14. It is a shock to realise that the much trumpeted UK garage "massive" is individually so diminutive, including minuscule muscleman Prince Naseem, who takes his seat to screams. But they're nothing to the whistles that greet David. When a similar enthusiasm emanates from the stage itself, even a David-sceptic like me is swept along by the show.
David is an extraordinary vocalist, with glorious, honeyed tones. He smiles warmly throughout and excels on his singles: Fill Me In, Seven Days and the lovely Walking Away, which never carries out its threat to mutate into U2's One. Predictable, maybe, but he is not afraid to throw in curve balls, such as acoustic renditions of the Human League's Human and the Artful Dodger's Re-Rewind (Bo! Selecta_).
If there is any doubt about David it centres on his lyrics - those cheesy exhortations suggesting that "beautiful laydeez" follow him to his bedroom. But then you remember that he is 19, wrote most of this stuff in that very room, and lives at home with his mum. The David boudoir has probably not been exactly heaving with lascivious females, so it seems churlish to grumble over his adolescent fantasies.
Then again, with thousands of young laydeez queuing up hear his sweetly warbled invitations already, his mother's household could soon be getting rather crowded.
• Craig David plays the Newport Centre (01633 662666), tonight, the Royal Albert Hall, London SW7 (020-7589 8212), on Wednesday, then tours.
