Talent triumphs on a terrific opening night

Just when their fans thought it couldn't get any better, the Britain's Got Talent stars pulled even more thrills out of the bag as they launched their UK tour in Birmingham last night.

Fresh from being catapulted to stardom after their appearances on the hit programme, Diversity, Flawless, Stavros Flatley and Co left an audience of thousands in awe at their breath-taking debut show at the National Indoor Arena.

And Susan Boyle, who had reportedly threatened to pull out just hours earlier, delivered a supremely confident performance that brought the audience to their feet in rapturous applause.

Last night's show was opened by the popular DJ Talent, aka Anthony Ghosh, whose rapping drew huge applause from the packed audience.

Winners Diversity, the 10-strong group aged between 13 and 25, proved their worthiness with imaginative routines that sampled their best moves from the show with new ones dreamt up by choreographer Ashley Banjo.

Lichfield rugby-playing schoolboy Shaun Smith won the award for most adored teenager in the building, being met by deafening screams from thousands of girls in the audience.

He sang U2's With or Without You and Kings of Leon's Use Somebody before returning to perform a surprise duo, singing Ain't No Sunshine alongside Halesowen saxophonist Julian Smith.

One of the biggest surprises of the night came when Diversity's youngest two members, 13-year-old's Perry Kiely and Mitchell Craske, joined 12-year-old Brummie body-popper Aidan Davis and Welsh singing sensation Shaheen Jafargholi to perform the Jackson 5's I Want You Back.

Much of the teenage crowd was there for last year's winner George Sampson, whose appearance alongside 11-strong dance group Flawless left his young fans breathless.

He went on to strut his stuff to a remix of Pink Floyd classic Another Brick in the Wall.

Greek father and son duo Stavros Flatley had the audience in stitches with their antics, before reappearing as storm-troopers backing the bizarre Michael Jackson-Darth Vader tribute, Darth Jackson..

Susan Boyle, who arrived at the city's plush Radission hotel earlier in the day looking flushed, stepped onto the stage looking radiant in the sparkling silver ballgown she wore for the TV show's final.

As the audience held its collective breath,ÊtheÊScottish singer launched into her heroine Elaine Paige's hit Memory, before singing a pitch perfect rendition of Les Miserables I Dreamed a Dream, the song that has apparently made her the most popular woman sought out on internet search engine Google. Despite a few boos initally heard above the cheers of the crowd, she silenced her critics with a faultless performance.

The eccentric 48-year-old remained on stage to take in the standing ovation.

After the show, the performers got a taste of stardom when they were met by hundreds of fans as they boarded coaches taking them onto Sheffield for their next show. Birmingham's Aidan Davis lapped it up, running towards the crowd with his arms open, joined by the younger member of Stavros Flatley Laggi Demetriouare. Members of Diversity and Flawless watched in amazement at the reaction of the crowd, taking their own pictures of the scenes.