Having recently announced that she’d be taking a break from music following her split from McFly’s Dougie Poynter, fans packed themselves into Manchester Arena to celebrate her talent and to have a thoroughly good time.

Long before she hit the stage though, it was up to US trio LANY to entertain the thousands who had already made their way into the venue. Despite being considerably unknown prior to supporting Ellie on this tour – a perk of being label mates – the group delivered a fun, at times rather emotive and passionate but strong start to the show and certainly won over many in the crowd notably thanks to their track “ILYSB.”

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John Newman was next. Dressed in a white jacket and shirt, teamed with a pair of black trousers, he rather looked like he belonged at a prom or a wedding than a huge concert, but nevertheless, he showed off some rather fancy Michael Jackson-esque footwork while delighting the crowd with energetic numbers.

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He exuded confidence as he danced and shuffled his way from one end of the stage to the other, often taking a run down the catwalk style runway in the middle of the floor. Such confidence resulted in him easily entertaining the masses before him, the venue at times echoing with the voices of thousands of individuals singing in unison, at no time more so than when he closed out his set with the smash-hit “Love Me Again.”

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After a short wait, it was then time for the main event. Ellie began her set by appearing silhouetted behind a white sheet. Then, from the first note and as the sheet fell away, the arena instantly vibrated with noise as everyone on the floor and those in the seats, cheered, whistled and applauded.

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Opening her set with “Delirium”, she then powered her way through tracks including “Holding On For Life” and regularly chatted with the thousands before her, telling them she had two drinks on stage; the first was water and the second was what she called “party petrol” – evidently, she was up for as fun a night as her fans were.

As fun and well received as her uptempo numbers were, the highlights of her set came when she slowed things down and stripped them back. One such highlight came via her performance of “Devotion” which proved, were anyone to not believe it, that Ellie really can sing. With just her guitar for accompaniment, she captivated everyone watching.

Having undertaken a few costume changes, she then appeared all dressed in white, looking absolutely stunning to deliver “Explosions” while the track which followed it, “Army”, written about her best friend, had the entire arena singing along to the chorus. A few songs later, she asked everyone present to hold up their mobiles – within seconds the arena was a sea of white lights. When she then called for everyone to put their phones and cameras away, everyone duly obliged and as Ellie spoke of the importance of “being here, in this moment, now, tonight”, they joined in on “Burn” with renewed vigour.

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Her three song encore consisted of “Anything Could Happen” which had the whole place dancing before she delivered what can only be described as the most stunning performance many may have ever seen. Performing her cover of Elton John’s “Your Song”, at times she stopped and let the crowd sing in her place – the result was beautiful; voices rising from every corner of the arena as they sung in harmony with one another. I for one have not been present to many moments at concerts that give me goosebumps, but that was certainly one that did.

“Love Me Like You Do” closed out the show with a power-house performance which everyone thoroughly enjoyed and as pyro and glitter cascaded from the top of the stage over the crowd, Ellie disappeared from view having delighted the thousands in attendance.