With gig season in full swing, North East music fans were spoilt for choice on Thursday evening. The likes of S Club 7, classic rockers Europe and blues superstar Samantha Fish were all performing in the region last night. But with a sold-out crowd in attendance, pop sensation Ellie Goulding seemed to be the hot ticket in town.

With the stage bathed in red light, the headliner's band took to the stage. A troupe of backing vocalists positioned themselves in front of a silver foil backdrop before the star of the show assumed their position centre stage. The singer was sporting a black blazer and boots.

Ellie Goulding is touring in support of their fifth album, Higher Than Heaven. The latter being Ellie's first new album in three years. And at the top of the set, it didn't take long before fans were treated to tracks from the record. Ellie opened the show with Better Man, and the recent single Let It Die.

The audience went wild during an uplifting airing of Outside. The song was the first of many of Ellie's Calvin Harris collaborations to feature in the show.

The new material continued thick and fast with Love Goes On. Whilst Power was replete with beautiful backing vocals from the five singers accompanying Ellie on stage. The song hit slightly differently from that of the studio recording and was full of soul and groove, but most importantly the harmonies between the six voices onstage were really something else. Similarly, those gorgeous vocal harmonies continued during How Deep Is Too Deep.

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Throughout the show, Goulding marched and paraded across every inch of the stage whilst simultaneously firing up the audience. And at one point Ellie was down on the floor lashing her hair around like the true rock star that she is. The charismatic artist has stage presence in abundance.

Ellie put her stamp on the Madonna hit Frozen to great effect. The song was perfectly apt on a chilly and somewhat blustery evening in the North East as Storm Babet arrived in the region. However, Goulding's angelic voice and the fans' feverish dancing were enough to thaw out the O2 City Hall's capacity crowd.

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Grasping a white acoustic guitar, the multi-faceted artist continued the show with Halcyon. The song was underpinned by a thunderous beat.

A crowd-pleasing rendition of Goulding's hit single Starry Eyed followed. The crowd sang along at the tops of their voices, and even at one point, Ellie thrashed out an almost tribal drum beat on the floor tom standing centre stage.

Midnight Dreams slowed down the proceedings momentarily. Ellie's passionate delivery spurred the crowd to clap along. Whilst synth-driven fan favourite Anything Could Happen had the crowd hanging on every word.

On Thursday evening, Ellie left everything out on stage and gave the Newcastle audience her all. It may well have been a sell-out, and deservedly so, but those in attendance would agree that the tickets were worth their weight in gold.