Lauryn Hill’s Brooklyn Bowl London gig was the hottest ticket in town on Monday night, despite clashing with Kylie Minogue in the main O2 Arena, not to mention negative reviews from her previous Brixton Academy show. However, MTV UK’s experience couldn’t have been more positive, with Ms. Lauryn Hill proving she is well and truly worth any wait.

Feeling: While Lauryn was an hour late arriving on stage, the crowd was generally upbeat, waiting in anticipation to see what the legendary lady would pull out of the bag. With no real support act, a DJ finally appeared around 10.15pm, getting everyone in the mood with a bit of Fiddy Cent and plenty of, “Are you ready for Lauryn Hill?!” chat.

Ready as we were ever going to be, Lauryn’s band members appeared on stage to cheers from the crowd, building further anticipation as to whether those previous dodgy reviews were justified. Then, melting away our worries, the lady of the night appeared like a true ‘Soul Rebel’.

The Look: There’s something slightly strange about seeing the face of that girl you used to worship in ‘Sister Act’ on a grown woman’s body, but – minus the cornrows – Lauryn Hill is as stunning as ever. Dressed in a loose-fitting blue floral dress, with a metal cuff to rival Beyoncé’s bionic ‘Single Ladies’ hand, Lauryn looked utterly fierce. Our venue, Brooklyn Bowl, was looking mighty pretty too – everyone loves a disco ball.

Tunes: Lauryn knows what her audience wants, and while she may have mixed it up on some tracks, the crowd generally seemed satisfied by classic tracks including ‘Everything Is Everything’, ‘Ex-Factor’ and ‘Mr. Intentional’. Fugees fans were well taken care off with ‘Fu-Gee-La’ and ‘Ready Or Not’, while Lauryn also paid frequent homage to Bob Marley & The Wailers, before bringing out the big guns on ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’.

Sweat Factor: Beyond hot, to the point Ms. Hill was dabbing her brow pretty frequently, and we may have had a little near-faint incident. All in an evening’s work!

Summary: We’re not sure what the Brixton lot were talking about. Long live Lauryn Hill!