Nothing gets a gig started quite like an album track, well, nothing except maybe a hymn or a funeral mass.

Speakerphone, a relatively unknown number from her latest release X, was chosen as the most inappropriately downbeat tune to herald the emergence of Kylie standing in the centre of a giant suspended hoop which gently lowered onto the stage.

As a directionless mish-mash of giant images flickered across the backdrop, it wasn't clear what effect this was all supposed to create, but the resulting look was more budgie than electronica songbird. The audience was bemused.

They hadn't come for obscure they wanted obvious. They wanted Better the Devil You Know, they craved Can't Get You Out Of My Head, heck, if she insisted on doing something from the album she could have kicked off the show with Wow.

The masses had assembled for one almighty kitsch knees up but, as starts go, this was the dampest of squibs.

And it looked like a rather half-baked affair, with Kylie donning a purple and gold sci-fi inspired dress, surrounded by black androidesque dancers.

She remained largely motionless while around her they struck various abstract poses - a tried and tested formula which has served her well for the last eight years or so, but serving up more of the same just wouldn't do.

In fact most of the first half felt more than a little formulaic. There was some light relief when we were treated to an American baseball pastiche, then a trip on board HMS Minogue and finally a racy red military outfit, but nothing captured the audience's imagination.

And yet she more than clawed it back in the second half when the show took on a whole new life.

Next came Oriental, with our heroine dressed Geisha-like while the dancers performed some amazing feats of athletic martial arts-inspired moves which saw them spin and twist through the air - this was more like it.

And 90 minutes in we'd finally got the numbers we all knew and loved, not just the aforementioned Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Wow, also In Your Eyes, Two Hearts and I Believe In You.

By the end of the show she had the entire arena up on their feet clapping, dancing and singing along, even on the reprise of I Should Be So Lucky.

And that's one of the most striking features of the show - this tiny figure of a woman often stood alone before an (admittedly adoring) audience of thousands but was at complete ease and in total control of the whole auditorium.

Even if you don't automatically ooze adulation for Kylie, it's hard to deny she's a consummate performer and, whether you actually like her voice or not, a surprisingly consistent singer in a way which ought to leave Madonna considering a few more lessons round the piano.

One of the most notable changes is that she now covers up.

Though far from a bloater it's obvious that post-40 Miss M is more curvy than she once was and has resigned the gold hot pants to cultural history.

Sex has been replaced by style, but it feels like more of an exercise in style than ever before since the dominating tunes from her latest album fail to echo her past glories.

It's clear that the imperial phase of Kylie is all but over and yet despite not being the phenomenon she once was, she somehow remains phenomenal.

Kylie is at Manchester Arena on July 14, 15, 17 and 18. Tickets start at £49. Call 0844 8478000 or visit www.men-arena.com

Rod McPhee