In the era of the gig economy and zero-hours contracts, the whirlwind nature of the side hustle is such that, for the business savvy, one’s day job must be intermittently put aside. Even the Kosovo-born pop singer Rita Ora took on numerous extracurricular activities following her 2012 debut: acting, modelling and presenting just about managed to keep her head above the pop-culture parapet. Her tenacity is admirable – she recently became the British female artist with the most UK Top 10 singles in chart history, despite not releasing a full-length album for six years, with last year’s Phoenix.

The painfully long time it took to release her sophomore record is celebrated rather than lamented on the opening night of Ora’s first UK arena tour. She spends a glorious 90 minutes delivering high-octane hits, resplendent in a bejewelled minidress and iridescent knee-high boots. Ora moves with confidence and sings with precision, sustaining lively, often provocative dance routines without missing a note. She deftly works the crowd, too, calling for fans to sing the chorus of platinum-selling Your Song while she jives to its bubbly drum-pad beats; repeated variations of customary tour lines (“How are we doing tonight?”) eke their way into a swaggering rendition of Doing It.

Relying on slick arena tropes, the set has plenty of transitions and costume changes, but references to Ora’s phoenix sigil are an affecting visual centrepiece throughout. Flanked by backing dancers, she reveals the greatest of these as the crunching electronics of RIP begin to pound away: attached to her back is a pair of gargantuan black phoenix wings, bestrewn with illustrated flames.

As the hazy, EDM-lite waves of Anywhere draw the set to a close, Ora stands defiantly on a platform above her transfixed audience, fist in the air. “Thank you for sticking by me throughout it all,” she says. You can’t help but believe she means it.

• At Bournemouth International Centre, on 22 May. Then touring the UK until 29 May.