THE ex-X Factor world tends to move on quickly, but Rebecca Ferguson is taking it one steady step at a time.

What she had found already was her voice, big and blue, soulful and as truthful, often tender, thrilling at moments of climax, as expressive of the wounded as the wow.

We knew that from the 2010 series the Liverpool mother of two should have won, leading to a supportive Friday night full house, from the young with their Thank You So Much Rebecca signs and accompanying mums, to the happy loving young couples and the Saturday TV regulars, deserting their sofa for a night out.

We knew too from December’s divine debut album – the aptly named Heaven – that Rebecca had found a way to express that vintage voice with songs as memorable, universal and affecting as on Adele’s 21.

The question that remained was how had her stagecraft progressed to sustain a headline touring show, a giant leap from her nightclub past?

A black curtain drops to reveal Rebecca in figure-hugging, shimmering silver, matched by her shoes and the bandstands for a classic if overloaded line-up in black: bass, rhythm and lead guitars, drummer, keyboard player and two female backing singers. But why is a table with water placed out front, not behind Rebecca?

“Isn’t it amazing what a lonely heart will have you do,” she sings, as she opens with Fighting Suspicions, and straightaway her way with making key words – “amazing” and “lonely” – hit you in the gut strikes you.

First thoughts: Rebecca does not move much, a raising of the left hand here, a hitch of the dress there; she always looks down, not up, when singing, but she has such rhythm and flow, and don’t you just love how she knows when to hold back, then maximise a defining moment.

What is immediately apparent as she moves from Mr Bright Eyes to Glitter & Gold is that her vocal confidence exceeds the rest of her still developing performance skills. Interacting with her players will come the more she performs. For the moment, it is Rebecca and some musicians, not Rebecca’s band, a gap rather than a groove.

Second thoughts: she loosens up the more she chatters, and she has a naturally confessional, heartfelt manner, talking about the important things in her life, love, her children, not materialism. What a contrast to the sisterhood of bling and titillation.

Shoulder To Shoulder is breath-taking, before two successive cover versions, the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter and Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, reveal she is better so far at the slow-burning Cooke than the Jagger swagger.

Final thoughts: Rebecca taking a seat to perform the ballad Teach Me How To Be Loved is an inspired move (she could do it more often); Rebecca dancing in Run Free is a joyous sight (she should do that more often too); and Nothing’s Real But Love is the perfect encore.

She is real, and long may this diamond have rough edges, but there is room for a guiding hand to make her live show even better.