Not many female artists would admit to emitting a rotting meat smell – as she was told by a journalist earlier that afternoon.

But then not many would stop midway through a festival set to get her guitarist to tell the crowd his story about the drunken man at the urinal.

And even fewer can create the mix of sounds and styles that Beth Jean Houghton conjured up on stage with her five-piece band the Hooves Of Destiny.

She must be the hardest pop singer-songwriter to categorise since Iceland’s Bjork first landed on the scene. Her set-up may look traditional, combining guitars, keyboards, violin and occasional trumpet with the standard bass and drums rhythm section. But the songs themselves mix operatic singing, folk instrumentation, pop melodies, rock energy and prog-rock changes – never failing to surprise.

Despite announcing she had only just woken up when she walked onstage, the delivery on Saturday night was faultless and full of passion.

She resembled a British Lady Gaga with her platinum blonde hair, slight frame and full make-up – albeit a much more conservatively dressed one having borrowed one of her bandmate’s T-shirts owing to the aforementioned odour problem.

And she had a natural connection with the audience – talking naturally between songs and never descending into introspection, wilful weirdness or diva-ish behaviour.

On the menu was the best of her debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose, including the quiet/loud stomp of Atlas, singalong Dodecahedron and closing with career-making single Sweet Tooth Bird, as well as the first chance to hear what she has planned for its follow-up. Long may the hooves of destiny ring out across the land.