THE CORRS (King's Hall, Belfast)

Set List: 'When He's Not Around' / 'No Good For Me' / 'The Right Time' / 'Joy Of Life' / 'Forgiven, Not Forgotten' / 'What Can I Do (To Make You Love Me)' / 'Hopelessly Addicted' / 'Jim's Surprise' / 'No Frontier's' / 'Runaway' / 'Haste To The Wedding' / 'Secret Life' / 'Only When I Sleep' / 'Queen Of Hollywood' / 'Dreams' / 'I Never Loved You Anyway' / 'So Young' / 'Toss The Feathers'

The task this evening is to establish how exactly The Corrs are achieving world domination - in Australasia, we hear, they're selling twice as many gig tickets as Oasis. Theirs is a non-violent approach, wrought by sweetness. For some reason, Tribbles come to mind. Fluffy and adorable, Tribbles, you'll recall, invaded the Starship Enterprise and charmed even the iron-hearted Scottie. At first they seemed harmless, but soon their power became apparent as their victims struggled against suffocation...

At The Corrs' first show of five at Wembley, the faithful are out in jovial force. It's been said The Corrs' music is so easy to listen to, you don't realise you've heard it until the CD finishes. That, in a way, is their charm. The Corrs won't leave you psychically disturbed, don't require concentration, but they're youthful and they like a bit of stadium thump, so they're on the money if you're not quite ready for Val Doonican. Thus, tonight's audience is a strange mix; lots of young girls trying to look like

the sisters from Dundalk, lots of parents in gold jewellery and crimplene. You can bet they've all got the album, which, cleverly reissued with every remixed single, has so far sold 2.2 million in the UK - and that's in less than a year. Ten months ago, when The Corrs played a televised St Patrick's Day gig at the Royal Albert Hall, they were unknown on these shores. Mind blown, we have since clutched them to our hearts, like the rest of the planet (barring the States, but that's next) before us.

You can see their lethal weapon when the band take the stage. Three video screens are provided, so no one will miss the impact. As Jim wanders docilely to his keyboard, his sisters bounce to their stations and launch into 'When He's Not Around' - like most of their tunes a sub-Madonna, cod-Carpenters number that will find space, somewhere, for Celtic pipes and drums. It's a lively thing; those who've not had an audience with the band before, however, sit slack-jawed and staring. The girls' faces are legendary; but their style sense is something, too. Andrea is wearing a blue hanky tenuously attached with string. I glance at my male companion. Shoulder-shrugging and cynical on the tube, now he's mesmerised and immobile.

For once, though, there's more to it than looks, because The Corrs are very good indeed at what they do: fine musicians, classically trained. Vocal numbers are slick and showy, instrumentals are faultless. But they're also bloodless, because The Corrs are so self-aware, they can't let go.

Even on rock-outs no one sweats and, though they smile, there's little wit or humour.

Sharon, the eldest at 28, plays her fiddle without altering her expression, a dark presence stage left like La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Vocalist and universal sweetheart Andrea, 24, has a way with a penny whistle and is charged with being the mover and shaker but, apart from pixieish skipping, much of this is arch gurning for the camera. Caroline, 25, is the most likeable. Perched on the drum riser, she comes into her own for the instrumental 'Joy Of Life' when, wearing pervy leather gloves, she hammers the bodhran like a heartbeat, then attacks her drums like Tyson, teeth gritted viciously, biceps sleek. After 'What Can I Do (To Make You Love Me)?', an inoffensive clapalong, 34-year-old Jim - who's been gazing at the ceiling - has a solo piano spot, plus an acoustic moment with Caroline and Sharon on Jimmy McCaffrey's 'No Frontiers'. Then Andrea's back, for a ballad ('Runaway'), another instrumental ('Haste To The Wedding') and a smooth stadium rocker ('Queen Of Hollywood', beefed up with electric guitar).

The only glitch is when Andrea addresses us, but founders amid talk of sales units. Aware of a deathly hush descending, Jim strums a note or two, and Andrea turns, face contorted, to beg for time; an interesting moment of power struggle. Then it's Fleetwood Mac's 'Dreams', complete with lightning, and 'I Never Loved You Anyway', which is almost vitriolic and gives the girls a chance for head-tossing disdain. The encore rubs in the fact that they're 'So Young', and they're gone. And, in fact, maybe youth is the

issue. The Corrs are far from dim; their manager says their next LP "will be their Joshua Tree", a plumbing of the soul, and it's not impossible. For now, though, their songs are sugar-coated pop with a touch of Celtic lilt, and they stick like candyfloss, like the croons of Tribbles..

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