Choice: Gig: M People, Brighton Centre

M People, Brighton Centre (01273 202881)

An unkind soul hereabouts remarked of M People that they are the best thing to listen to when working out on the Stairmaster. To which I say, if you must construct your entire aesthetic around going to the gym, you are a profoundly sad person. None of which will worry Heather Small, above, she of the big hair and the lowest voice in pop since Lou Rawls. The naysayers pooh-pooh the notion of seeing these sophisticated popsters in concert, suggesting that anyone who ends up as the background to a Peugeot commercial cannot be worth anyone's time or trouble, but I say "Hey, guys, lighten up. This is classy stuff." Face it, they may be singing strange lyrics imploring you to "search for the hero inside yourself", but I'd rather look for the hero than the inner child, which nearly everyone else is wittering on about.