The seduction has also been wrought on a more subtle, emotional level, as anyone watching their show at the 2,500-capacity Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham on Friday would doubtless agree. The second night of an itinerary stretching all the way through to February, it was a more intimate affair than most of the forthcoming dates, including five nights at Wembley Arena, will be. The group seemed nervous, and the gig was marred by a series of minor technical gaffes. But if there was a tentative air to some of the individual performances there was the overwhelming sense of an act that has built its success on rock-like foundations of personal and musical integrity.

With their black hair, striking features and willowy, catwalk-model figures, the three Corr sisters, Andrea (vocals, tin whistle), Sharon (violin, vocals) and Caroline (drums, bodhran, piano, vocals), looked beautiful but never brazen, while their elder brother Jim (guitar, keyboards, vocals) maintained an unshowy, businesslike air.

There was no attempt to dazzle the audience with sexy come-ons or bravura displays of musicianship. Instead they put their faith in their songs and the sheer force of their unspoilt collective personality.

With influences divided between Irish folk, pop and American soft rock, they produced an easygoing blend of mainstream music set to a surprisingly muscular backbeat on numbers including Forgiven, Not Forgotten, Only When I Sleep and Queen Of Hollywood, while emphasising their roots on more traditionally derived fare such as Joy Of Life and Toss the Feathers.

Andrea's singing, with its distinctive catch in the throat and vestigial brogue, was a delight, but it was the instrumental passages that conjured much of the drama, not least when Caroline got cracking on her bodhran during Haste To The Wedding.

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