About to release his fourth album, and still only 26, Southampton's former goateed garage hero Craig David has become a grownup.

Sporting shaved head and unfussy stubble, looking like a beefy man instead of the fresh-faced teenager singing of sneaking past his girlfriend's parents in 2000, the singer chose to launch the imminent Trust Me album with a six-show residency at Ronnie Scott's, a lifeless supper club where people stand up only to leave.

On the first night he found his audience attentive but unexcited about his adult new sound.

With a setlist consisting almost entirely of unreleased songs, the feel was more like a music industry showcase than a gig for fans.

David was talkative, introducing each track with a lengthy ramble about its origins, but the lulls merely prevented momentum from building.

He began enthusiastically with new single Hot Stuff, which steals from David Bowie's Let's Dance to make for an exuberant pop number, though it wasn't good enough to merit its full reprise in his encore. The next five songs on the new album followed in order, including the upbeat, hornheavy 6 of 1 Thing, Officially Yours, his breeziest pop chorus since the early days, and Awkward, a slick duet with 16-year-old future star Rita Ora.

He aired Sting-sampling 2003 hit Rise and Fall, a fine tune let down by self-regarding lyrics about his once incandescent fame. It emphasised how pleasing it is to hear him singing of simple pleasures once again, encouraging friends to leave the house on Friday Night and getting his fingers burnt with yet another girl on the slinky reggae of She's on Fire.

He was backed by a fivepiece band including a minihorn section and the electronic R&B of his roots seemed to be forgotten in favour of "real" instrumentation.

Even those dancey initial smash hits, 7 Days and Fill Me In, were performed with just acoustic guitar, although it was only when he added frantic, rapidfire rapping to those old favourites that his crowd proved they were there for more than just the table service.

Maturity is all very well, but getting sweaty may be the secret to continued success.