Mary J Blige at The O2 Arena

Last night was Mary J Blige at The O2 Arena. I'm not a great fan - hippity-hoppity stuff ain't my stuff - but after last night she gets full kudos. She gave a fantastic performance, ripping out her heart and wringing it out on stage, flinging her soul into the air as she kept on stomping across the stage and draining us dry emotionally. At least she did me.

I didn't recognise many of the songs but that didn't matter, the band was great and Mary J was riveting. The band were on risers at the back of the stage leaving Mary lots of space to roam the front of the stage, a couple of times joined by two hip-hop dancers who only stayed on stage for a couple of minutes, so largely it was MJB alone at the front of the stage. There was a great light show and video wall behind her - and the occasional pyrotechnics - but she deserves enormous credit for her stage presence and, of course, her voice and songs.

I think there were three highlights for me: a big version of 'I'm Going Down' which got the crowd roaring, an amazing extended version of 'No More Drama' that ended with MJB on her knees on stage and me emotionally exhausted, and the great 'Just Fine' from the latest album with the line 'I like what I see when I'm looking at me when I'm walking past the mirror...'. Great stuff, and that reflects a lot of MJB's messages in her songs of empowerment and her rants at the the audience to be proud of who you are today, don't be ashamed of who you were yesterday, find what works for you and be proud. At one point she said she was happy being fat, being thin, with red hair or blonde and we should take her as she is, not as she used to be or might be. Good messages.

The crowd loved her, that was plain to see, and it was nice to see people cheering and welcoming the new songs as well as the oldies. I liked her version of U2's 'One' which she delivered as a personal MJB song and the wonderful 'Be Happy'. I'm still not a hippity-hoppity type of person but MJB has a new admirer here in my plastic bag. Good on ya, lass!