Kesha / Tom Aspaul

Kesha’s mostly-millennial fan base don’t arrive as early as the crowds of her younger peers, but support act Tom Aspaul is lucky to play to a pretty busy room.

Decked out in a cowboy hat, waistcoat and jeans, Tom and his trendy moustache perform to a backing track of unfamiliar but solid disco bops.

His silky polished pop vocals and classic dance moves (there’s a lot of pointing and the occasional slutdrop) are an ideal warmer for this show – while posing no threat of overshadowing the headliner.

With just a platform, chaise longue and a giant screen on stage (with one lonely guitar in the wing), it looks like we’ve got Kesha in karaoke mode tonight… but the lack of live musicianship is compensated for generously in four hunky male dancers who perform in a series of wacky and wonderful outfits with aplomb.

This is, ridiculously, Kesha’s first headline show in Scotland. As far as we’re aware, the only times she’s performed here before were at T in the Parks 2011 and 2013.

Back then, there were far fewer women fighting it out for Queen of Pop and she was the edgy, rebellious heiress. Nowadays the market is much more crowded, leaving Kesha a little bit of an outsider. It feels like, due to certain events that don’t need any more column inches, the former top-tier troublemaker is playing catch up.

So she’s here to fight. Her first big swing is that, mere hours before this show, she announced an OVO Hydro show for next year – unsubtly signalling that tonight is merely a teaser.

With a set that only just scrapes in at the one-hour mark, the carefully curated setlist chooses not to accommodate any deep cuts or unfamiliar new tracks.

The top-notch bangers come thick and fast, from ‘Tik Tok’ to ‘Blow’ to ‘We R Who We R’ and ‘Die Young’. The room, of course, explodes in glee at a good old blast of ‘Timber’, too.

It’s safe to say Kesha hasn’t mellowed with age. The visuals – including a comprehensive array of cartoon penises – and the live, on-stage cavorting makes Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short n’ Sweet’ tour look downright prudish.

There’s snogging, licking, and lots of gyrating. Sometimes it’s even hard to work out where one dancer ends and another begins – and our pop starlet makes sure she isn’t left out.

Though it easily could, none of this should distract from Kesha’s actual singer songwriter skills. Her vocals on ‘Praying’ are Gaga-esque. Let’s hope maybe for the arena tour she brings a piano to make it feel like the proper, emotional moment that it ought to be.

It would’ve been nice to hear a few more new tunes, too – particularly as Kesha is keen to tell the crowd that she wrote every song on her forthcoming album. ‘Joyride’ and ‘Delusional’ are a strong sign of things to come, but please, Kesha, may we have some more?

The hour that Kesha gave Glasgow tonight was intense, exciting and jubilant. It was so brief but so consistent. If the idea was to leave the audience hungry, 10/10, bravo.

If she chooses to level up the way you’d expect for next year’s arena tour (ie with a band and more songs), well, that’s going to be one hell of a party.