At Venue on Saturday, October 25

The world is a grim and horrible place these days, this somehow seeming extra true last Saturday night, when all that was missing from the streets of downtown Vancouver was an ark piloted by no less than Noah himself.

How bad are things in 2014? Well, not content with ripping its way through Africa, the Ebola virus is now making inroads in North America. Religious extremists have turned their sights on Canada, kids are still killing kids in mass shootings across the border, and young girls are being kidnapped en masse in Nigeria.

The best thing about Betty Who at Venue on Saturday? Somehow all the horrible stuff ceased to matter, at least for the hour the perma-smiling Australian-born New York glamazon was on-stage.

If the artist sometimes known as Jessica Anne Newham proved anything over the course of a high-gloss, impossibly bouncy set, it’s that a good time can be infectious. Venue was only half full—most storm-battered and waterlogged citizens of Vancouver were clearly more interested in taking root on the sofa with Netflix and an order of takeout. Despite that, Betty Who bounded out looking very much like someone who’d just heard Time magazine had picked her as one of the 14 top pop artists to watch—again. (That’s right! Like she didn’t care it was Time, instead of Rolling Stone!)

And right from the synth-dappled opening strains of “High Society”, everyone was onboard. Some dance parties take a while to take off. On this night, it was like watching a freshly lit match hit a lake of gasoline, the good times instantly full-on right from the get-go, the front row filled with fans who knew every word. The mile-wide grin on her genuinely happy-looking face showed Betty Who to be someone as thrilled to see her fans as they were to see her.

Visually speaking, the package, which included three backing musicians, was kind of crazy. Sporting a black pleated miniskirt, a shiny metallic-blue top, and white high-tops, the towering singer looked part cheerleader, part Topshop frequent flier. She practically dwarfed her bespectacled bassist and synthtar-wielding keyboardist, one dressed like she was about to wash the car, the other clad in the blackest spandex money can buy. The fact that their looks didn’t exactly mesh didn’t stop the musicians from working in unison, all three engaging in weird synchronized line dancing that brought to mind every R&B video shot in the ’80s.

Speaking of the ’80s, Betty Who may have hit No. 1 on the Billboard dance charts this year with “Somebody Loves You”, but there was a definite throwback vibe to much of the set. Breezy concoctions like “Dreaming About You” and “Heartbreak Dream” were somehow transporting to a time when Madonna’s “Holiday” was the freshest thing on the pop charts.

All this made the night look like something of a misanthrope’s worst nightmare. Couples celebrated hand in hand on the dance floor while Betty Who burned about 2,000 calories each song. If she wasn’t high-kicking her way across the stage, she was high-fiving fans, grabbing their phones for impromptu selfies, and orchestrating audience-participation sing-alongs.

Those looking for faults might have noted that parts of the show raised the old question “Is it live or is it Memorex?” And as the night’s end approached, it started to feel like candy-coated overload.

Still, considering what’s going on in the world these days, there are worse things than Betty Who being too sweet, perky, and enthusiastic about life. Try turning on the news sometime.