Her heyday was almost a decade ago but it seems that no one has dared to tell Anastacia. The pint-sized singer held court at the Apollo with a mix of music, the sort of bizarre behaviour you might expect of Britney Spears and interminable chat about the charmed life she leads. “I don’t know if you’ve heard,” she said early on, apropos of nothing, “but I’m kinda successful in other countries.” This she followed by tinkering with a wind-up toy. By the time she was making animal noises, speaking in strange accents and whipping out a trivia question that she had prepared earlier, it was hard not to wonder exactly which planet she thought she was on.

The searingly powerful, soul-pop voice that helped her debut album, Not That Kind, go multiplatinum in 2000 in umpteen countries — though not at home in America — had at least lost none of its impact. Just seconds into the show, the crowd were on their feet and singing as Anastacia strode along a walkway and down a set of stairs in an all-white outfit inspired by Elvis — everything from the belt of her skin-tight trousers to her giant sunglasses sparkled. A group of session musicians provided fine funk backing for the uptempo tracks, but slid into George Bensonesque, jazz-funk slush for a series of saccharine ballads.

If the tour was intended to breathe life into last year’s underperforming Heavy Rotation album, it didn’t work. After more than an hour, the absence of any big hits began to grind down even Anastacia’s most ardent fans. For the ladies, there was the distraction of a sexy male dancer who stripped to his pants, though his routines were as baffling as the singer’s banter — first, he pretended to paint with what looked like a garden hoe, then he performed acrobatics over an empty bath, while mock-washing himself with a cloth.

For the blokes, Anastacia changed into a bra top during Paid My Dues and delivered a suggestive skit from a sofa. Finally came a roof-raising encore that included Left Outside Alone and I’m Outta Love. The two-hour journey to reach them, however, might be better left for Las Vegas.

Tour continues at Manchester Apollo, tomorrow

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010