When Candi Staton makes her entrance, it's clear we are in the presence of a soul dignitary - a perception encouraged by the woman herself, who tells the audience: "You're looking at the genuine article." We certainly are. Long before she became synonymous with the disco smash Young Hearts Run Free, Staton encountered the kind of setbacks that wreck careers. Drugs, booze and a knack for marrying the wrong men have imprinted themselves on her raspy voice.

She may be bloodied, but she is unbowed. From the balcony, Staton looks half her 65 years and dances with boundless energy. She radiates such warmth that even the reviewers, who are out in force, get an unprecedented: "I love you." She seems to have no hidden sides: what you see is what you get. And what you get, in this instance, is one hour of songs with plenty of anecdotage.

Staton is associated with the 1970s Muscle Shoals southern-funk sound, which she sees as a career high point. She returns to it several times: I'm Just a Prisoner ambles steamily, allowing space for ad-libbing about the numerous ways relationships run out of steam. A couple of tracks from her new album, Who's Hurting Now?, attempt to replicate the brassy, bassy Shoals sound - to less earthy effect, though.

She's retro to the core, thank goodness. With no interest in the kind of modernising collaborations that stars of her vintage are often talked into, she is free to sing what she likes. Elvis's Suspicious Minds is tough and unsentimental, and she slips a jubilant gospel interlude into Young Hearts. Before ending with her other great hit, You Got the Love, she says she'll keep us in her prayers. I'll bet she will, too.