What: Jann Arden

Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre

When: Last night

Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of five)

At first it seemed like Jann Arden’s concert might not happen.

Partway into her second tune last night, the Queen of Heartache announced she was experiencing a “little bit of tachycardia,” or accelerated heart-rate. Then she left the stage, leaving her band to play Looking For It without a lead singer.

The sextet then segued into an improvised version of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game, with the bass player calling out the chords. The show stopped for about five minutes before Arden returned to sing Looking For It again, this time completing the song.

It wasn’t until her fourth tune that the Calgary singer-songwriter, now looking relaxed and chipper, explained: “My heart gets into this thing where it goes really fast.” She joked that her low-cut dress had exacerbated the incident.

Arden — famous for her heart-wrenching ballads — made headlines in 2007 when she was admitted to hospital with takotsubo, or stress-induced cardiomyopathy (also known as “broken-heart syndrome”).

The concert continued without further incident, although the singer sang in a more measured manner than usual. She came fully into her own after an acoustic set, performing such ballads as Wishing That and her new single, Million Miles Away, with no signs of restraint.

Ever the trouper, Arden — dressed all in black with shiny black boots — made little further mention of her ailment. She even indulged in her trademark jokey banter, at one point doing a quip-filled question and answer session with the audience. Later on, she remarked: “If I have to do this effing show lying down, I’m going to get through it.”

Selections performed from Arden’s new album Free suggest that, at age 47, she’s still in full creative bloom. The love song Million Miles Away was one of the night’s strongest offerings. Featuring Keith Scott’s spacey, sustained electric guitar, the rock ballad offered hooky refrains riding on powerful crescendos. Other new selecctions played were All the Days, The Devil Won and the concert’s opener, Free.

Despite the passing health scare, Arden and company managed to perform for two hours and 20 minutes. The singer, earning a standing ovation, capped her show with such covers as Lulu’s To Sir, With Love and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart. Near the end Arden gamely painted a picture on stage — to be sold for charity afterward — as multi-instrumentalist Alison Cornell sang.

Arden offered a wide overview of her career. And those expecting to hear her hits weren’t disappointed. Can I Be Your Girl — with its do-or-die religious imagery and air of desperate supplication — was notable for Cornell’s mandolin work. The crowd also heard Sleepless, Insensitive, The Sound Of and I Would Die for You.

achamberlain@tc.canwest.com