Pre-teens, Haribo and luminous light sticks were in abundance as the X Factor juggernaut rolled into the Brighton Centre.

Three months after Simon Cowell’s all-consuming talent show departed our screens, the top eight finalists of the 2013 edition were primped and primed to perform cover songs previously seen on the Saturday night TV show.

The biggest treat of the night was series winner Sam Bailey, who stood head and shoulders above her peers with a four-song finale that had thousands on their feet.

Bailey bashed out her Christmas number one Skyscraper, plus spine-tingling versions of Clown, How Will I Know and Dreamgirls’ classic And I Am Telling You.

The rest of the motley crew included talented Tamera Foster, who kicked off the show with Rihanna’s We Found Love, and pint-sized runners-up Nicholas McDonald and Luke Friend.

Rough Copy, Abi Alton, Hannah Barrett and Sam Callahan delivered cheap and cheerful fillers, with no harm done.

However, quite telling was that one of the most memorable songs of the evening came courtesy of X Factor’s biggest export, One Direction, when their music video for Midnight Memories played during the interval. Proof, if needed, that the class of 2013 have big footsteps to follow.