Will Young braved sub-zero temperatures in Birmingham last night – and gave fans a cheeky flash of his bum.

The former Pop Idol was in high spirits at Symphony Hall and demonstrated naked ambition during a costume rearrangement.

After singing Brit award-winning Your Game, flirty Will asked the audience: “Do you want to see the tattoo on my bum?”

To roars of “Yes!”, the star turned his back to the crowd, pulled down his skin-tight jeans and pink pants and pointed to the tattoo at the top of his left buttock, saying: “That is the first time I have done that … since I’ve been famous.”

Why do we love Will Young?

He’s not cool, by his own admission he’s a ropey dancer and he’s definitely not “street”. Yet Young is impossibly likeable, a guilty pleasure. It helps, of course, he is responsible for some of pop’s best moments in recent years. He bounded on stage like an excited puppy for the first of his two-night shows at Symphony Hall and didn’t let the energy levels, or his innate sense of theatricality, drop for a second.

Young’s adoring fans were treated to a run of his biggest hits, including a wonderful slow funk version of Friday’s Child. Make no mistake, the guy’s got a tremendous voice and knows when to lay it down.

The hugely accomplished hour-and-a-half set demonstrated why he is the latest standard bearer for unashamedly commercial white, blue-eyed soul.