“Who’d like to sing?” Gabriella Cilmi offered cheerfully, stepping forward to the happy group bobbing along to her early hit Sweet About Me.

As one, the English audience looked away awkwardly and took a pace backwards.

“It helps if you sing along, guys,” she remonstrated afterwards.

“Still sounded good!” came a supportive cry from the back.

With three albums under her belt, the black-clad rock goddess was on the attack, purring, growling and wailing with a thrilling intensity reminiscent of PJ Harvey. Her songs deal with relationships and heartbreak, with the infectious Symmetry a driving, powerfully dark soundtrack.

Cilmi’s versatile voice ranged from a playful, Macy Gray rasp on Vicious Love to world-weary and rueful on Sweeter in History.

The set really took off with Animals, a disco groove with the alarming line “It’s what we were born to do: we were howling in the womb.” The bassist boogied, guitar wailed, keyboard pulsed and throbbed.

Undeterred by the small audience or her flu-hoarsened throat, Cilmi gave her all, dropped to her knees, emoting like Janis Joplin and whipping her hair to the steady thud of the drums. A show this intimate from such a talented performer felt a rare treat.