Ms. Lauryn Hill's challenging concert Monday morning at the Pageant came with a flurry of questions, and by the end of the 90-minute performance, they were all answered.

Many fans, based on what they'd heard or read from reviews in other cities as well as the power of social networking, expected Hill's show to implode on arrival.

Questions included: Would she show up at all? How late would she be? Would she have an attitude? Would she perform her hits, and would they be recognizable?

The answers: Yes, very, no, yes and no.

Grammy winner Hill, in her trademark Afro hair style and simple slacks ensemble, seemed in good spirits when she hit the stage just before midnight, 11:52 p.m. Sunday to be exact. She stayed in that mode even while fussing with a jacket that had a huge fur trimming that was nearly her undoing.

Her patient fans were mostly in a good mood as well, despite the long wait -- doors for the show were originally supposed to open at 7 p.m., then 9 p.m., and then word spread that Hill would take the stage at 11 p.m. They seemed prepared for the delay, and DJ Rampage and DJ Wood kept the crowd engaged with hip-hop hits from names like Kanye West, Jay-Z, Drake, Busta Rhymes and Ludacris.

Right off the top, after nicely greeting the crowd, Hill told or perhaps warned her fans she would be doing old music in new ways "to keep it interesting."

That was an understatement. Hill wasn't interested in giving fans a recognizable run-through of "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," although wouldn't a performance of the album in its entirety have been great?

Instead, she twisted and turned songs such as "Lost Ones," "When It Hurts So Bad," "How Many Mics" and "Final Hour" into new compositions, often sped up and boasting fierce new rock backings.

At times it was almost as if Hill, who hasn't released a proper studio album since 1998's "Miseducation," was previewing a new album live in concert. And in the case of a few songs, including "Ex-Factor," she performed two distinctly different versions of the same song, taking fans on a bit of a roller-coaster ride.

Hill's execution was great, and there is obviously plenty going on in her head musically these days. Her voice is still there, a little raspy but workably so, and her band clearly has mighty chops to tackle the night's remixes and reinventions.

Still, she could have thrown fans more bones to chew on.

It's one thing for an artist who tours repeatedly to tire of performing the same songs over and over to want to switch some of them up in the name of freshness.

But that wouldn't apply to Hill. Most fans haven't seen her live since her '90s tour that accompanied "Miseducation," and they deserved to hear the rarely-performed songs as they remembered them.

The show wasn't for every fan, evidenced by the fact that some began filing out midway through, though the late start time had something to do with that as well.

Those who stuck around to watch the rapper-singer rock out most of the night were rewarded late in the show with "Fu-Gee-La," "Ready or Not" and "Killing Me Softly," songs from her Fugees' group album "The Score," as well as "Doo-Wop (That Thing)" and "Turn Your Lights Down Low."

Her more faithful takes on these songs were truly crowd-pleasing, though it may have been too little, too late for some.