OTTAWA -- Melissa Etheridge ain't afraid of the blues.

Better known as the power-rocking celebrity lesbian, Etheridge proved last night with a riveting set of hard-driving, blues-flavoured rock that a great performer fits in anywhere.

The 15,000 at Festival Plaza came to see her. Period.

Reason enough for me.

The pumped-up crowd was in a good vibe. Everyone seemed happy to share. Sporting new tan suede pants and black leather jacket, Etheridge and her band, a tribe of real virtuosos with bassist Mark Brown, drummer Kenny Arnoff and guitar player James Harrah, kicked things off like they were dying to play, assembling on-stage 20 minutes early with I Want To Be in Love from her new album, her ninth, Skin.

Backdropped by an shimmering electric monitor, she stretched her powerful, rusty-in-the-good-blues-singer-sense voice on I Want To Come Over and Similiar Features.

Then, she kicked things into a higher gear with Come To My Window.

In all, Etheridge covered most of her best-known material in a 16-song set including Angels Would Fall, Bring Me Some Water, I'm The Only One and Like The Way I Do, playing with enough animal energy to light up the Festival Plaza stage. And then some.

Like her role-model Bruce Springsteen, Etheridge showed herself a fully-charged and durable power-rocker, drawing strength from a place only she could tap. A woman. And her female fans, who proudly identified with Etheridge's power and sexual intimacy, loved it like it was their own story.

Etheridge got intimate on the solo lullabye Sleep While I Drive, played piano on a cover of Joan Armatrading's Weakness In Me and could barely be heard beneath the singing, squealing fans on Yes I Am, the answer to a question we can only guess at here.

There were pyrotechnics. Etheridge and guitarist Harrah jammed on the same guitar. Later, the band drummed through a take of STOMP. And throughout the almost two-hour performance, she flirted with fans in the front row.

Etheridge's pleasure stood in stark contrast to Kathleen Edwards, the singer-songwriter from Wakefield who opened the double-bill.

The best the alt-country Edwards could muster was a meandering, temperamentally challenged 45-minute set. With her first album, Failer, on tap, Edwards worked the Sheryl Crowe bad-girl routine a little thin.

There's no denying Edwards has star-power with a voice that fills the stage, a good pen when it comes to writing songs, a strong rock image and the attitude to go with it. Three out of four ain't bad.

From Hockey Skates, a burned-out ballad about spent emotions, Edwards bared her angst-ridden, I'd-rather-be-fishing soul on 6 O'Clock News, Maria and Westby, then did the blues-rocker thing on Mercury, National Steel and her final song, 12 Bellevue.

"They booed me in Sudbury and now they're booing me in Ottawa," she joked. When the audience applauded, Edwards appeared surprised, gasping "You aren't supposed to clap at that."

Diva message received loud and clear. (More on Melissa Etheridge)

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5