The 46-year-old Houston is now having to compete with pop and R’n’B singers such as Beyoncé and Rihanna, who are manifestly stronger and fitter than she is. Having set the gold standard in showboating when she was in her prime, she is now, understandably, finding it hard to match up to her own standards, let alone those of the next generation. She still wasn’t quite right, but it was more than OK.