October 25 2004, By Clint Coulson

Despite her debut album being released almost a year ago, Brooke Fraser has only just embarked on her first national tour.

No surprise, then, to find a near-capacity crowd awaiting her with thunderous applause as she took the piano stool.

They had come to hear the songs that propelled What To Do With Daylight to the top of the New Zealand charts again this week - and that's exactly what they got, beginning with the single that started it all, Better, followed by the earnestness of Saving The World.

She soon moved into a clutch of acoustic songs, including Without You and the ambient Indelible.

Between songs she charmed the crowd with stories of her childhood, her mother, and the hazards of home baking, inciting a lot of laughter and having the effect of making the show more intimate.

This was reinforced by the inclusion of the sparse, piano-led Scarlet and Mystery, both of which highlighted her widening vocal range.

Revealing that the Opera House was where she had first sung - as part of Buzz 'o Bumble when she was about eight - Fraser introduced a new song before finishing with the massive hit Lifeline.

But the crowd demanded an encore, so Fraser returned to the piano stool for her latest single Arithmetic before bringing the crowd to their feet with the funk/soul jam of Still in Love.

Suffice to say she's come a long way since the Buzz 'o Bumble days.