Candi Staton @ The Ferry

The crowd of forty-something blondes and whippersnapper scenesters waited patiently for soulful Grandma Staton to amble her sparkly top on stage looking painfully mismatched. Yet, by the end of the gig the same patchwork crowd belted out You Got The Love like they were all founding members of the demented karaoke singers with black mama at-ti-tude gang. There's just something spellbinding about seeing one of these real life soul divas on stage; there becomes no "cool" - it's just about the singing. Even the intermittent cheesy preaching between songs isn't quite as annoying as would be anticipated on paper. Her six piece backing band did the 60/70s classics proud, and even if the "and give a hand for Mr Bass on bass" solo was a touch Cosby Show they were funky like Jay K could never even dream of. No new tricks then, but Candi's a treasure nonetheless. [Melissa Thomson]