3AM: Top Girls say it loud; First Night VIP GIRLS ALOUD At the Newcastle Metro Arena.

Byline: Eva Simpson & Caroline Hedley

WHEN it comes to girl power, there's only one act in the running these days.

And Girls Aloud proved why they are the undisputed queens of the charts as they kicked off their Greatest Hits tour in Newcastle.

The 11,000 adoring fans at the Metro Arena went wild when the girls were lowered on to the stage in a black metal cage.

And if their 15 consecutive Top 10 singles aren't enough - that's five more than the Spice Girls - their sexy stage act is something to be reckoned with too.

The Girls emerged in black hot pants and thigh-high boots before changing into tiny skirts and South American dancing dresses.

After Something Kinda Ooooh and Wake Me Up, they pounded into crowd favourite Jump. Then followed platinum-selling debut Sound Of The Underground and hit after hit: Long Hot Summer, I Think We're Alone Now, Money, Biology and Love Machine.

The teenage girls and 20-something blokes in the audience certainly left happy.

Especially when the girls climbed their own stairway to heaven - a huge silver one topped with a slowly spinning stage - for I'll Stand By You.

No one was more at home than Geordie girl Cheryl, back on native soil. An emotional Mrs Cole even filled up as she chatted between songs.

For the finale the girls climbed out of five dimly-lit beds pursued by male dancers who leapt from under the covers.

Enough to make the mums of the under-10s turn pale... but everyone else lapped it up.

CAPTION(S):

CHEEKY GIRL: Nadine sends adoring fans wild PictureS: ROB CABLE/CABLEIMAGE; HITS AND MISSES: Five go mad in Newcastle