Bjork's latest Hong Kong appearance could not have been timed better. With the city still thawing from its longest cold spell in 20 years, the diminutive Icelandic songstress provided a night of frigid melancholy.

The ice queen is touring to promote her latest album, Volta, which is being promoted as 'Bjork's pop album' - but with this experimental performer even 'pop' fits into the avant-garde category. Last night's set was mostly made up of Volta's darker, down-tempo tracks, but the clouds occasionally parted to make way for the more sensual numbers from her back catalogue, allowing this incredible singer to fill the cavernous venue with her soaring vocals.

Bjork has dabbled in alternative rock, jazz, ambient music, electronica, folk and pop, and this eclecticism was reflected in the diversity of the audience - spotted last night were everyone from accountant types to young hipsters, punks, goths, rave kids and even housewives who looked like they had lost their way to an Air Supply concert.

It was a concert full of Bjork's trademark theatrics and sense of the absurd - the singer herself was dressed as a cross between a lai see packet and a peacock, the stage was festooned with flags of imaginary countries, and her talented horn section, the Wonderbrass outfit from Iceland, cavorted with the prowling songstress with flag poles standing proudly from their heads.

After exhorting the crowd early in the show to put down their camera phones 'so they could be in the moment', Bjork ran through a range of the more melancholic numbers from her latest release that left the audience mostly mesmerised. Just when she appeared to be losing momentum, she launched into the shimmeringly beautiful hit single All Is Full Of Love from 1997's Homogenic album, demonstrating why she is considered one of the most distinctive and dynamic vocalists of our time.

Bjork was competing with a flawless electronics section that faithfully reproduced the complex arrangements of her studio material, but the night belonged to those unique Scandinavian vocal cords, which can go from a whisper to a crescendo in the blink of an eye - best demonstrated in the highlight of the night, the 1996 single Hyperballad.

After a brief encore, Bjork fittingly ended her 90-minute show with a snowstorm of white confetti that enveloped the audience as she chanted the refrain to her latest single, Declare Independence: 'Make your own flag, raise your flag, higher, higher' - a perfect summary of this uncompromising performer's approach to her craft.