LEON McDERMOTT

Much as was the case 35 years ago, the majority of the crowd at an Osmonds gig is female, and full of energy, most of which, last night, as back in the day, is expended on screaming at Donny Osmond any time his beaming, sinisterly-youthful face appears on the giant screens behind the stage.

There are six other Osmonds, though: Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Marie and, of course, not-so-little Jimmy, whose leathery complexion is as unnerving now as his cherubic persona was while singing Long Haired Lover From Liverpool, which gets a comedic, knowing airing in the second half of this marathon show.

The Osmonds are celebrating 50 years in showbiz; an American Dream-perfect advertisement for family values and good dentistry.

In the collective pop consciousness, The Osmonds - especially Donny and Marie - are dewy-ballad merchants, but the highlights tonight are made of sterner stuff: opener Crazy Horses, with that neighing synth intro is still as thrillingly weird as it ever was; Hold her Tight, meanwhile, is a blatant, brilliant steal from Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song.

This brace of thudding rockers aside, though, it's a package variety show: each member gets a turn up front, placating fans and their own egos; there's a bizarre medley from The Plan, their wiggy 1973 concept album about their Mormon faith; and a slick piece of emotional blackmail in the form of a look back at 50 years of The Osmonds in song and archive clip format.

You could decry their biggest hits - the Jackson 5-lite of One Bad Apple; the world-conquering schmaltz of Love Me For A Reason - of being ripe pop stilton, but despite their cloying, sugary nature, there's something indelible about these songs; they're little moments of glossy pop confection, insubstantial but somehow enduring, which is why they're still being sung to crowds of 12,000 screaming fans, almost four decades after everyone else stopped paying attention.