Watching Kate Nash warble her way through this Edinburgh Festival set, it was hard not to debate whether she should have turned up at all. Afflicted by a throat so croaky that her voice vanished above a certain register, hers was a brave performance. On the other hand, though, it was an inevitable disappointment.

The 22-year-old Brit Award winner at least began on her usual buoyant form. Seated at an upright piano draped in red velvet, placed front-centre stage, she practically spat out Mariella, a jaunty mix of music hall and indie-pop Mockney market-trader patter. A pair of percussionists standing either side of a trolley of instruments attempted to out-bang each other and a pretty female violinist in a long, dark, sleeveless dress duelled elegantly with the guitarist in a Fifties-style, thrift shop suit.

It was last August that Nash's career suddenly exploded and the year since has been spent largely on the road. Live, Nash certainly had more to offer than Lily Allen, not least when she pounded her piano like a deranged Elton John during Shit Song or turned some of the least substantial tracks from her chart-topping debut album, Made of Bricks, into meaty, melodic mini-dramas.

Just 20 minutes in, however, her voice began to crack up, and by Birds, for which Nash switched to acoustic guitar, her witty lyrics were becoming difficult to decipher. Soon her songs were as ramshackle as her ill-advised outfit - a shiny gold, pleated skirt, tight red top and black tights. Her most ardent fans - young girls in more stylish Nash-inspired attire - helped out by singing along. Others decamped to the bar.

A trio of new tracks included Pickpocket, which began downbeat and ended as a dizzying knees-up, and the surefire future single Do Waa Do, a genius, quirky rocker that borrowed from Manfred Mann's Do Wha Diddy Diddy and ended with Nash shouting: “Bitch!” For fans, the night's highlights were Mouthwash and Foundations, although Nash managed only the odd line on the latter. Towards the end she brought on six male dancers in skeleton outfits and giant blond afro wigs. Bringing a rested voice from the outset would have served her better.