LIVE: The Saturdays

iTunes Festival, Roundhouse, London

WITH Girls Aloud in the middle of a year off, there is a big hole in the market for credible girlbands.

Or there was - until The Saturdays stepped up a gear.

Initially written off as low-rent (two of them were in the infamous S Club Juniors), the girls have persevered, and their concert proves just how far they have come.

Admittedly, it doesn't get off to a good start. With the other girls in simple white and cream outfits, Vanessa White doesn't seem to have got the memo, and is wearing a bright silver frilly dress. Fashion aside, it's a high-octane hour for a group who've only released five singles, especially as there isn't much in the way of a stage show as yet - multi-coloured neon mic stands are the only props.

What they do have is a winning combination of poised, pouting dance routines and a down-to- earth enthusiasm, as Frankie Sandford jokes that the girls are "a bunch of sweaty Bettys" under the stage lights. Oh, and they've got the songs too. As well as their Children In Need charity cover of Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough, they tackle Madcon's club hit Beggin' and a medley of Katy Perry, Rihanna and Pink.

But their own hits cover the pop spectrum of catchy uptempo tunes like If This Is Love to dramatic ballads like Issues.

And Una Healy and Mollie King manage some credible acoustic guitar strumming on the ballad Chasing Lights. There are a fair few couples in the crowd, evidence that the girls' appeal has moved beyond the teen market.

Jetting in for a break from recording their second album in Los Angeles (it is out in October), the two new songs suggest that appeal is only going to widen, with One Shot the sort of sophisticated modern pop Girls Aloud excel at.

There's sterling support from new girlband trio Girls Can't Catch - who have a couple of fine hits in waiting themselves - and a classy Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

But the headliners are in no danger of being upstaged. At this rate, The Saturdays will need eight days a week to be contained.

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