Tata Young did her best to show off her goofy side at Friday's "Temperature Rising" concert while flaunting her newly trimmed figure in tight, glittery outfits. The show at Impact Arena was only her second on home turf in a year and a half, and everyone was waiting to see their "inter" heroine again. It didn't begin well.

An hour after the promised show time, all we got were Tata's TV commercials onscreen, fans' patience flickering on and off among the waving red "I love you" lights and sparkle sticks.

Tata finally arrived in sparkles of her own, a dress designed to amplify her much-discussed "inflated lungs", but the song was "Zoom", which is a plea to overlook the obvious and peer inside her mind instead. She stressed the point by covering her chest with her hands on the line "don't touch me there".

Next came "Back Outta This", a few fans rising from their seats to get a better look at the singer. And then a whole lot more stood up when she launched into "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" and the dancing began in earnest.

Tata did some sexy dancing of her own, although she left most of the truly erotic moves to her squad of onstage dancers. Her mostly red outfits clung to her body, but in a generally tasteful way, still offering ample views of her long legs.

There was a sweet moment when Tata paused to say how much she'd missed her fans.

"A year and a half just seems too long," she said before singing the slow "I Think of You", followed by "Cinderella". The crowd lapped it up.

After a break Tata asked for a male volunteer from the audience. The Army should get such a response, but she picked an average-on-the-chubby-side guy to take a chair onstage as she seductively danced around him to "In the Mood".

Then she did the unthinkable: She lay across his lap. There was manic screaming from the audience, possibly some fainting.

Regardless of the shock value, you couldn't fault Tata's marketing strategy - she's touting Marie France diets at the moment and her body is slim as can be, certainly when compared to the lucky fellow in the chair.

Sorry to throw cold water on hot fans, but the dude was probably a friend of Tata's - the dancers escorted him backstage afterwards.

The racy humour was appreciated, though, as was Tata's string of jokes.

But only when she started singing her old hits did the audience truly wake up. "Hey Mama Say", "Shot", "Wan Jai", "Super Fan" and "Abodedea" revved up the fans, and these gems she followed with "Song Kon Neung Kuen" ("One Night Stand"), "Ya Glead Gan Gopo", ("Just Don't Hate Me") and "Yom" ("Surrender").

Then things took an odd turn. Maybe Tata couldn't decide whether to be sexy, cute, cool or crazy, but she called out the ladyboy group Venus Flytrap to join her on "Don't Cha" and "I Will Survive". She looked cool among "the girls", merely further endearment to fans already devoted to her every move.

It's not a Tata concert if Tata doesn't sing some Indian songs, so she did the less-familiar "Mila Mila" and then the immensely popular "Dhoom Dhoom", complete with Indian dancing, probably the best-choreographed moves of the show.

As if that wasn't enough, Tata gave the crowd a treat by letting a camera follow her backstage and into the dressing room. She tossed on a trench coat like the one she wears in the "El Nin-yo!" video and hopped on an elevator to return to the stage.

As she was exiting the lift, the doors closed on her, but she's now slim enough that that's not going to be a problem.

Onstage a bed was waiting, and Tata - ever the Madonna of Siam - used it to recreate her sexiest video to date, mouthing the words "harder, harder, faster, faster" toward the end.

She vanished again, the audience taking the time to watch her new video, "Come Rain, Come Shine", in which she wears youthful clothes, smiling and dancing as if she's a little kid.

At the end of the video Tata reappeared onstage and performed the song live - a bit of a stretch, but the show was almost over.

The finale was "I Believe", with Tata ending on a high note with a cheery Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. In her glowing white (tiny) dress, she didn't forget to wai and thank all her fans.

Lisnaree Vichitsorasatra

The Nation