FRESH from his capture of Best International Male at the Brit Awards, the American hip hop star turned pop phenomenon Cee Lo Green is the hottest ticket in town.

The Southern singer keeps his audience waiting, and when he does eventually materialise it’s a surprise given his flamboyant reputation to see him wearing just black jeans and a red t-shirt bearing the names of The Beatles, ‘John, Paul, George & Ringo’.

But the crooner’s intentions are in keeping with the Fab Four’s message of peace, love and music, as he tells the crowd: “I don’t want you to stare at me, just enjoy each other... socialise”.

At any rate it’s our host’s band who catch the audience’s gaze, four female musicians looking like Cee Lo’s Angels in revealing red catsuits.

The show begins with Cee Lo dipping straight into his latest album The Lady Killer, and new single Bright Lights, Bigger City.

The strength and quality of his voice seems to be causing problems for the sound engineers, who struggle to get the levels right for the first couple of songs.

But soon his eclectic mix of soul, funk and rock ‘n’ roll is coming across perfectly and Cee Lo’s voice is soaring, best illustrated during an absolutely beautiful rendition of Wildflower.

Cee Lo pauses to inform us that he goes by many names, “Cee Lo Green, Lo-nan the Barbarian, The Ladykiller... and Gnarls Barkley”, before digging out the latter’s giant hits.

Commanding the lights to fall, a rumbling, brooding version of Crazy rolls out from the stage, prompting a mass sing-a-long to one of the best pop songs of the last decade.

As the set closes the charming frontman explains that he’s just come out of a ”miserable” relationship, prompting a performance of No 1 single, Forget You.

Thankfully this is the non-neutered version of the viral smash, the joy of the song coming from the contrast of the sweet piano chords and the bitter message of telling a former lover exactly where to go.

The track twists into the Clash classic Rock the Casbah, before Cee Lo returns to explain that he is struggling with a cold.

He gives his humble thanks and a short encore of Lou Reed’s Perfect Day, leaving his fans wondering just how good he could possibly sound if his voice was at 100 per cent.