OTTAWA -- After watching Janet and her very scantily-clad dancers act out an explicit pseudo-bondage fantasy all over the stage last night I guess I'll have to call her Ms. Jackson -- 'cause

I'm feeling a little nasty.

Having left behind her "Michael's little sister" moniker about 25 million albums ago, the 32-year-old Jackson brought her Velvet Rope tour to the 10,000 in attendance at the Corel Centre.

During the first segment of the show, her stage set up was minimalist -- featuring a giant velvet curtain, rope and disco ball -- which was perfect because it allowed Jackson and her phenomenal dancers more room to strut their stuff.

Jackson impressively resisted the temptation to use her dancers as a mere backdrop. Instead, during classic dance numbers like If, Nasty Boys or What Have You Done For Me Lately? she danced right along with them, barely missing a line.

And when she slowed it down to catch her breath for ballads like the new song Every Time, her velvety vocals flowed freely.

Then the curtain closed and when it re-opened all thoughts of minimalism were forgotten. The stage was now cluttered with oversized clocks, books and a grinning moon. Jesters and clowns hopped, swirled and bounced around Jackson as she belted out old favorites like Miss You Much and When I

Think of You in front of giant sparklers.

But the childlike theme was quickly replaced when Jackson began acting out her new album's journey into hypersexuality -- the title Velvet Rope refers not just to the favourite means of separating the cool from the unwashed at nightclubs but also to certain slightly kinky sexual practices.

The woman that performed an elongated strip tease in front of an extremely happy male audience member -- who was brought on stage and quickly tied up -- is a far cry from her days as Willis' girlfriend on Diff'rent Strokes.

Jackson may have recently cultivated a slightly silly media image as a possibly bisexual, body-pierced dominatrix wielding a wicked Joni Mitchel sample. But aside from the bondage number, it was kept relatively low key in favour of sheer dance spectacle.

And her new music, while certainly more sophisticated (if not always better), mixed well with hits from previous albums like Control, Rhythm Nation and Janet.

And it's always a good sign when a post-greatest hits artist is able to produce a song as good as her encore number Got 'Til It's Gone -- a slice of hip-hop influenced soul so velvety smooth that Joni Mitchel's sampled vocals in the chorus don't seem at all out of place.

* * *

To the creepy strains of Darth Vader's theme, teen heartthrob Usher emerged from a Han Solo-style faux carbon freezing chamber. The girls screamed. He did a few pelvic thrusts. The girls screamed. He did some funky dance moves with his crack troupe of wicked awesome breakdancers. Well, you can guess the reaction.

The 19-year-old Usher's association with three of R&B's hottest producers -- Teddy Riley, Babyface and Jermaine Dupri -- helped propel his second release My Way into the big time, selling over four million copies on the strength of chart hits like You Make Me Wanna. . . and Nice and Slow.

In between costume changes, Usher performed slightly better than average post-New Jack Swing R&B -- basically soulful vocals about sex over hip-hop breakbeats.

But midway through his set Usher made a tragic mistake. He performed a medley of old school Bobby Brown tunes and revealed that the New Jack founder simply had better material than his musical heir.

Which isn't to say that Usher wasn't good -- his voice is really quite amazing -- but his songs all sound suspiciously similar and he relied too heavily on his bare chest to spark a crowd reaction.

Maybe he needs a new prerogative.

JAM! Rating: 4 out of 5