Review: N-Dubz ****

But N-Dubz are not splitting, Dappy was keen to stress when they performed in Scarborough last Saturday, and he complimented Tulisa’s many outfit changes. Her wardrobe is super-glam, although N-Dubz likes to keep it real and ended their light-tastic and highly polished performance with an urban layers and trainers look, back to how it all started.

Their road to fame is the stuff of legend – a tough upbringing against a backdrop of gang culture, with cousins Tulisa and Dappy teaming with Fazer aged 13 to make music under the management of Dappy’s dad, Byron Contostavlos (formerly of Mungo Jerry).

Their second album Against All Odds (2009) went platinum within two months, thanks to an instantly recognisable sound characterised by high-voltage yet thoughtful girl-boy rant songs such as Playing With Fire and Say It’s Over. The Scarborough arena (capacity 6,500) is hard to fill but N-Dubz nearly managed it. They rocked the place – no mean feat considering how far they were from most of the audience, making intimacy a real challenge. Fortunate, then, that Fazer, Dappy and Tulisa are larger-than-life characters.