Surely there are more worthy hate figures in music than James Blunt? "You're all pretty brave souls for coming here this evening," said the singer to his unembarrassed fans at the first of two London shows, all too aware that the press and the rest of the country seem to rank his music on a par with traffic wardens and slamming your hand in a car door.

You're Beautiful was the sticking point, a weedy ballad that, through no fault of Blunt's, was played so often by certain radio stations in 2005 it was as if all their other CDs had been destroyed in a fire.

Yet even the ex-soldier sometimes seems to think it should be given its marching orders, bashing it out halfway through here with no fanfare, and even sending it up on Sesame Street by changing the title to My Triangle ("It must be those angles that put a smile on your face/Not to mention the hypotenuse").

Also, for all the limpness of his best-known song, the 33-year-old has handled the wealth and fame resulting from some 14 million album sales like a proper chest-beating rock star, building a nightclub in the basement of his Ibiza villa and hoovering up supermodels like an anteater.

These days he's living a far more exciting life than, say, Liam Gallagher, guaranteed.

Recent second album All The Lost Souls is selling healthily, but with nothing like the ubiquity of its predecessor, so it's now easier to appreciate many of Blunt's other songs for what they are - quality guitar pop.

Give Me Some Love was a surprisingly rowdy opener, Wise Men had a great, robust chorus, and I'll Take Everything was a glorious departure from his usual style, all grand melancholy piano and pounding beats.

As might be expected from an army man, almost everything was too tidy. During 1973, another winning tune, the roadie jogged on to help with a pre-planned leap onto the piano.

His closing of So Long, Jimmy by striking a giant gong was an amusing surprise, but there was a sense that this was a crowd that rated gigs in terms of how close they came to sounding exactly like the albums. They were not disappointed.

Ever self-deprecating, Blunt charmed throughout. Perhaps some day a few of his other fine songs will creep out from the shadow of that scarily huge hit, but even before then, it is time for a new musical villain.