Some people have natural star quality. More than 20 years after her finest hours, at least from a chart point of view, Anastacia, it quickly becomes clear, is still one of them. Sure, there’s something a little bit naff about the series of costume changes and the way she follows each stroll out of view by emerging from a rather flimsy door at the back of the stage for no specific reason, but we can embrace naff. Especially when one of the stars of the early-00s power-ballad scene comes with that tinge of magic.

Set up oddly right at the rear of the Olympia’s chunky stage, the six-piece band that accompany the Chicago native consist of two talented backing vocalists and an instrumental element that flit naturally around the fringes of hip-hop, soul, and pure brash, boisterous pop. The frontwoman opens with a punchy ‘One Day In Your Life’ and takes just four tracks to arrive at one of her megahits, with ‘Paid My Dues’ offering the first sing-along of the night and absolutely heaps of nostalgia.

Anastacia’s star quality arguably resides in the sheer power of her voice, and nothing has changed there, though the general sense is of more of a balanced stage act, a band type feel as much as a solo artist. With Anastacia providing the massive power-highs, the band drop in on elements unique to them while she’s off stage, including a lively medley cover featuring Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ and ‘No Diggity’.

There’s a real personal side to the relationship between Anastacia and her fans, and that comes to the fore with a mid-set conversation between her and an audience member in the front row, which she keeps returning to. The member of the audience holds a picture of her mother above her head, and explains that she’d sadly passed before making it to the concert, so they were attending to celebrate her. Later, ‘How Come The World Doesn’t Stop’, a track about Anstacia’s own experience of loss, is dedicated to the missing audience member, with the photo signed between songs, too. It’s a weighty moment.

The set highs are more than the emotional lows, though, and those moments are magnificent. There’s a glorious cover of Guns N’ Roses ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ that suits Anastacia’s voice remarkably well, and the likes of mega-hits ‘Left Outside Alone’ and ‘Not That Kind’, both offered up late on as the band look reluctant to depart, feel as glossy as they ever did.

If there’s a criticism to be levelled at a massively enjoyable evening, it’s firstly that there’s a real ‘samey’ feel about Anastacia’s style (it is, in essence, a series of massive choruses surrounded by delicate verses, and doesn’t depart from that much), and also that the backing band, good as they are, lend the whole things a slight cringe factor, with their well-performed but slightly wedding-dancefloor-esque offerings while the star is off stage feeling a bit ‘big night out in a rural hotel’.

That said, these are minor criticisms: there’s plenty to love here, not least in some of the tracks that fall post Anastacia’s true moments of mainstream fame, which see her seem to explore her inner self lyrically, delving a little deeper than the anthems of hope, defiance and dissatisfaction that remain her trademark.

In fact, if we could venture a suggestion, Anastacia would make an incredible festival act: while the whole is strong, the peaks are recognisable to most, and a shorter, punchier set in the mid-afternoon sunshine would go down an absolute treat.

As someone pointedly outside of their ‘gig norm’, this show felt like embracing the power of a thundering vocal and an enthusiastic crowd, whilst setting aside the moments that just didn’t quite connect. It’s not perfect, and not always quite up my street, either, but memorable, emotional, and carrying undeniable quality.