TORONTO - Lily Allen had an important confession to make early into her hour-long, soldout show Thursday night at the Phoenix.

"This is my first sober gig," said the 21-year-old music star from England, who is known as much for her politically incorrect honesty and sense of humour as her beautiful trill of a voice, bouncy pop-ska sound and skewering, often funny lyrics.

"I don't know how it's going to be, but I'm trying not to drink. Anyway, I'm not going to get pissed."

Seems hard living has caught up with Allen, who even made a point of removing two liquor shots placed on the stage in front of her before she began her performance.

Still, she traded one vice for another, eventually lighting up a cigarette, the first of many, despite Toronto's anti-indoor smoking bylaw.

"I can't drink but I should be able to smoke," Allen said.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, despite that pesky $5,000 fine business.

"I'm just wondering when I find out whether I've been fined or not," she said later.

Backed by a seven-piece band, including a three-man brass section, Allen opened her show with LDN, from her critically acclaimed debut CD Alright, Still ...

That upbeat opener was followed by Nan, You're A Window Shopper (her parody of 50 Cent's Window Shopper), a cover of Keane's Everything's Changing and Blondie's new-wave classic Heart Of Glass for an encore.

But it was the material from Alright, Still ... that dominated the set. For the most part, Allen lived up to the advance hype despite a few noticeable lulls.

Songs that showed off her clear, lovely voice included the slower-tempoed Shame for You, Little Things, the sarcastic Everything's Just Wonderful, Not Big (about men with small appendages), Friend Of Mine, the club odes Friday Night and Knock 'Em Out, and her big breakthrough hits Smile and LDN.

As for the mostly adoring college crowd that quickly snapped up tickets for this show (which followed a Lee's Palace gig on an earlier visit to Toronto), it's clear that Allen is their unlikely hero. Her in-your-face attitude and eye-catching image -- dressed as she was Thursday in her trademark girlish dress and white sneakers, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail -- make her almost a subversive force.

Take for example the song Friend Of Mine, which Allen explained was written about a girl who used to bully her at school.

"She, you'll be happy to know, is a crackhead now, probably about to deliver a crackhead baby," she told the audience. "And I'm here up on stage in Toronto performing for you."

Guess who's having the last laugh?