With a crowd consisting of around 80% women two things were certain tonight: I was more likely to be hit with a flying bra than an unsavoury pint glass of warm liquid and in the battle of the wild hairdos there could only be one winner...
First up tonight was Welsh singer Songwriter Rod Thomas in his Bright Light, Bright Light form. It's always difficult to gauge a crowd reaction with such an early slot but his brand of electronic pop gained attention from the early birds and deserves a bigger stage than this.
Next Sunday Girl aka singer songwriter Jade Williams whose sound followed the electronic pop theme of the evening. Good interaction with the crowd - warming up our vocals for the main event and even taking pictures for her Facebook page - got everyone on side. The songs were good too with an exceptional cover of Laura Branningan's 'Self Control' and Sunday Girl left the stage with quite a few more fans than they started with.
Squeezing every inch of the stage space including an overpowering digital backdrop more fitting of a festival, the star of tonight's show Miss Goulding headed straight for the drum kit and beat out the rhythm over the introduction of 'Under the Sheets' which brought screams of such a high frequency from around the venue that the city's canine population was no doubt driven into the River Mersey.
With this being her first headline tour of the debut album there was some padding of the set between the big numbers most notably where she stripped things down for a bit too long in the mid part of the performance. A cover of The Temper Trap's 'Sweet Disposition' promised greatness but the arrangement didn't match the spine tingling feeling of the original.
The excitement and enthusiasm of a band in the early stages of a touring career was clear to see and Ellie switching between Vocal, Guitar and Drums kept the crowds attention intact, the highlight of the night being the beautifully written The Writer which had every member of the audience singing along
Having seen her perform to a packed out tent a V festival earlier in the year, this gig was perhaps not surprisingly a bit more low key but crowd pleasers such as 'Guns & Horses' and set closer 'Starry Eyed' brought the energy up to a decent level.
With Ellie returning to the studio after this tour she did give us a glimpse of some new material and the future seems very bright and for those wondering... tonight's winner in battle of the hair Ellie pipped Jade with a dramatic comb over
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