Kate Nash

EMMA LEE

UEA LCR, Norwich

Forget the Spice Girls' reunion - Kate Nash is what girl power 2007 style is about.

Two years ago, the Harrow singer-songwriter was working in a clothes shop and dreaming of stardom.

Now her name is up in neon lights.

The eclectic line-up at last night's sold-out show had it all - poems about Rolf Harris, sea shanties and grown men pretending to be robots (which was oddly brilliant). And the gig showed how far she's come in the few months since she played a tiny stage at the Latitude Festival.

The runaway success of her single Foundations, which was only kept off the top of the charts by Rihanna's Umbrella, has turned her into one of the country's hottest stars, hence her show was moved to UEA from the smaller Waterfront due to demand.

But she seems to be taking it in her stride.

Although not fully musically formed, she has an ear for a great pop melody and a razor sharp wit.

And she's an engaging performer hiding behind her shaggy fringe, bantering with the audience and effortlessly swapping between keyboard and guitar.

She's also refreshingly normal with it - apart from when she had a diva outburst and asked the audience to be quiet during the slow song.

Teenage angst is obviously a subject she knows well, being barely into her twenties herself, and she celebrates the misfits like her character Mariella who sews her mouth shut.

But tracks like Foundations, Mouthwash and the touching love song Birds show her at her best.