X Factor-bound Britney Spears proved she was back on form last night when she gave her first public performance since her catastrophic outing at the MTV awards last year.

Promoting her new album Circus, the pop singer, 26, took to the stage at the The Bambis in Germany wearing a Madonna-esque top hat, hot pants, fish-net tights and knee-high boot ensemble and performed a stonking rendition of her hit single Womanizer.

Picking up the Best International Pop Star gong at the prestigious Offenburg ceremony, Spears, who suffered a protracted public meltdown last year, proved she was a different woman to the dazed, disturbed singer who stumbled through a car-crash version of Gimme More at the MTV Music Video awards a year ago.

Appearing silhouetted against a white backdrop, she burst through a flaming ring to strut around the stage provocatively flanked by a gang of back-up dancers.

Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld was reduced to saccharine similes by the erstwhile teen star’s comeback, telling the audience, as he presented the star her gong, that she had come back "not only as a phoenix but as a bird of paradise."

The singer’s slick comeback is good news for X Factor fans who can watch Spears perform live on the ITV talent show on Saturday night.

Earlier this week Spears announced she will return to the UK next summer for two concerts at London’s 02 Arena on June 3 and 4.

Circus is released on Monday.

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