Charlotte Church @ Summerhall, Edinburgh, 26 Aug

If you’ve never seen Charlotte Church open a gig with Nine Inch Nails’ Closer, howling Reznor’s immortal line 'I want to fuck you like an animal', then you can’t call yourself a pop fan. Once the nation’s angelic teenage sweetheart, Church is now our activist karaoke queen – putting paid to those noxious tabloid fantasies and providing a cathartic cabaret of sequins and smash hits.

“Are you sweaty as well, my darlings? Yes? I’ve always imagined a dungeon to be pretty... HOT.” Charl – ‘cause we can call her that, right? We’re all friends now – is holding court with a fucking huge grin on her face. She’s flanked by an eight-person band and a sold-out crowd is gazing up at her with total devotion, for the second night in a row. We’re coming to the end of a madcap 90 minutes, with ringing ears, sweaty pits and new pals as mementos, and what a time it’s been.

The playlist is everything you could hope for: Willy Wonka...’s Pure Imagination, Amerie, Justin Timberlake, Edwin Starr’s WAR, Missy Elliott, Joy Division, Beyoncé, Prince, Michael Jackson’s Earth Song, En Vogue… the E.T. theme song (?!). It feels like a house party, but the best house party you’ve ever been to – with a professional yet obscenely glittery band, an explosive sound system and your most talented friend on selector duty. Obviously her voice is still phenomenal, and when Church really lets rip – as she does during a breakdown of Robyn’s Heartbeats – everyone pauses, and jaws fall to the floor.

There’s a Pitch Perfect-esque showdown between her backing singers, as they attempt to best each other with choruses borrowed from Britney and M.I.A. “Unlike the Tories, we keep it democratic!” shouts Church with total glee, before stealing the show with an uproarious rendition of her 2005 hit Crazy Chick. We should note, too, that she’s luminous in glittery gold hotpants, a pastel pink baseball cap and a sequin t-shirt that reads “Girls support girls!”, below which someone’s added “and boys <3” in neon pen.

Each cover or extremely unlikely mashup sends the crowd further into a frenzy. A mix of Destiny’s Child hit Survivor and Rage Against the Machine’s Killing in the Name – unbelievably – sees a teeny mosh pit open up. Honestly. You probably had to be there, but somehow it sounded incredible. A final disco-themed run rounds off the show, culminating in Indeep’s cheeseball classic Last Night a DJ Saved My Life – the perfect finale to a night dedicated to the total joy a well-timed tune can bring. No-one wants it to end, but Charl, as ever, has comforting words of wisdom: “Look on the bright side my loves! Now you can go outside in the cold and have a fag.”