It’s a talky night. “It’s not just a bang-bang show,” she says unapologetically in her irresistible Brooklyn drawl (“It’s a paww-deee!”). She tells us about family,the cousin who had a pigeon coop on her roof,the women who raised her and the way they’d cut up old clothes and make something brand new with them.

She does the same with her art,of course. Many of her songs are written by others but she makes them utterly her own. She tells us she recordedI Drove All Night,written for Roy Orbison,because there were no songs on the radio about women driving. “When you get in the car and you can drive anywhere you freakin’ want,that’s a power song.”

She cycles through about half-a-dozen costume changes,each with a different hair colour:sparkly,shoulder-padded jackets,asymmetrical suits,underwear on the outside,a floor-length Norma Desmond number,a red jacket with a bright yellow wig. “I tried to dress up faw ya,” she says. As this outfit’s designer Christian Siriano told her:“The gays want glamour.”

For the evergreenTime After Time,Melbourne’sTones and I joins for a duet that’s like every wedding dance floor you’ve ever been on:messy and beautiful. And she delivers True Colours flawlessly,standing on a small satellite stage in the middle of the arena with a long rainbow scarf metres in the air.