Residents of Peterhead, the east coast fishing port known as the Blue Toon on account of the colour of its fishermen’s sweaters and its football team’s shirts, last night gathered in their hundreds to welcome the London-based celebrity singer Alexandra Burke to its shores.

“Jings, she’s tiny,” said one admirer, as the reigning X Factor queen swept into the lobby of the Waterside Inn yesterday afternoon to prepare for a private concert for 230 lucky ticket holders whose names had been drawn from a hat by phone company Nokia.

They didn’t mind if the soundcheck repeated Hallelujah, her 2008 Christmas number one cover of the Leonard Cohen classic, over and over again before she departed swiftly to her changing room, flanked by yellow-jacketed security guards. They were willing to wait for the real thing.

But then Mogganers, as local residents are known, had reason to be proud. Through their concerted efforts, Peterhead beat 500 other towns and cities in a nationwide competition to host a one-off performance by the X Factor star.

Encouraged by the local Waves radio station, over 1000 residents voted in the Nokia mobile phone campaign to ensure Peterhead knocked Southport into second place and Folkestone, Aberdeen and Preston into the long grass. Not bad for the town previously known solely as Europe’s number one whitefish port.

After a warm-up by the young singer Hayley Cassidy, they had their reward. Lights dimmed and then, just days before she hands her crown to this year’s X Factor winner, Burke duly arrived on the tiny stage of the Waterside Inn ballroom, resplendent in a black sequinned mini dress, black spiky heels and red glitter eyeshadow.

A forest of arms instantly went up, each holding a mobile phone on video record. To the jaunty strains of Broken Heels, her new single, she danced and walked with the audience in a 50-minute set that concluded with Bad Boys and included the inexorable Hallelujah, with backing vocals from Dane, Sean and Marcus. The Silence was particularly talked up, as Burke wants it to be her next single.

The gig was probably the most intimate of Burke’s high-profile career.

Fans stood only yards away from the 21-year-old singer, who is more accustomed to lavishly produced television shows and music videos.

Young children wearing their best dresses and glitter jewellery were sitting on their mothers’ shoulders. Waving fur-lined pink banners that screamed: “Alexandra, you rock” in glitter writing, they were delighted when she asked their names. Let’s hear it for Amy! Maya! Tegan! and Alice!

“It’s really brought the crowds out but I wish I’d got here earlier and got to the front,” said Nicola Wilson, 28, who was celebrating her friend Amanda Baird’s 24th birthday.

After the gig, Burke had nothing but good things to say about her visit: “I went for a long walk along the beach in Peterhead and had some of the famous fish and chips, which were delicious.

“I had a great time, I’ll come to Scotland again. And would I come back to Peterhead? Hell yeah!”