Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour – Cardiff International Arena

ON all the occasions I have been to a gig at the CIA, I have never seen such excitement as there was for singer of the moment, Lady Gaga. It seems her impressive album sales and three Brit awards have helped her become one of the hottest properties on the planet.

Indeed you almost wonder if she'd book a venue as small as the CIA if she was planning a tour now. So the feeling that Cardiff was lucky to have her saw crowds snaking around the block from as early as noon, in the freezing cold no less.

Danish posters Alphabeat provided superb support. Deserving of their own headline tour – which they have planned for April – seeing them as the warm-up was a real treat.

But as good as they were, it was The Lady that the capacity crowd were there to see. And as 9pm approached and she hadn't appeared, the excitement was almost tangible.

Her set was elaborate from the start, with scenery to rival a Broadway show.

Chart topping singles were the order of the day as the worldwide star belted out Just Dance and Pokerface with gusto.

And through it all she failed to wear any tedious costumes. Clearly this is a woman who aims to shock and inspire with her fashion.

But while her persona suggested she was on another planet entirely, in fact it looks as though she could be the most astute performer around.

She told the crowd she remembered playing at the CIA not so long ago as the support for the Pussycat Dolls, which she did just after releasing her debut single.

And given how many venues a singer like Lady Gaga inevitably plays, only the most professional would remember a relative detail such as this.

However, her personality seemed to be what the audience liked the most. They responded with applause to her stories and messages of acceptance.

Finishing her set with hits Paparazzi and Bad Romance – her best hits – we saw her various intimate regions appear to set alight. But by this point it seemed almost normal, after we'd seen her piano also set alight during an earlier song.

Lady Gaga is headline-grabbing and talented. And after her performance in Cardiff it's almost certain she's the most dynamic and interesting pop star we've seen in the charts for a long, long time.

Edward Gleave