Battling a sore throat and calling for hot whisky, Lily Allen cut a vulnerable figure as she hacked and spluttered, apologising and giggling at her failure to hit low notes.
Her voice, while straining in the lower register, seemed stronger and more versatile live than in her recordings as she rose through the floor in clouds of dry ice to skip up and down the illuminated staircase that formed her set in thigh-high stiletto boots.
The sympathetic audience were made up of three generations of gig-goers, from the mature group at the front of the circle, cheerfully singing along to a track that was banned by the BBC, to the hen party on the dance floor, with their arms out like the dancing presents in the video of The Fear.
Allen channelled Sally Bowles in a 1920s-style black waistcoat with sparkly hotpants – with matching lamps lowered over the stage creating an intimate supper-club ambience.
Offered any prop she wanted, she chose a keg of Guinness, and directed a stagehand to pour and hand out pints to the front row.
Her mish-mash of musical styles ranged from dance-along 1970s funky bass to more intimate songs with emotionally honest lyrics, such as I Could Say and 22.
Apologetic Back To The Start was delivered with sassy bounce, while her triumphantly-strong backing band helped make Oh My God an arms-in-the-air floorfiller.
The show ended with Not Fair, developing from a country-tinged singalong into a blazing club anthem.
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