Gladys Knight at the Royal Albert Hall

Last night belonged to Gladys and I was so glad to see her. From the moment she strode onto the stage at the Royal Albert Hall, a vision in floaty white with silver sparklies, my eyes tracked her across the stage and ears went into meltdown... A true legend indeed.

Gladys was excellent last night and her voice is amazing, so powerful and rich. She looked good and sounded good, joking with the audience and telling stories from yesteryear. She even had an OP with her, as he described himself - an Original Pip, her brother, Bubba. Cor, I've seen a Pip! I don't know why, but that gives me a thrill.

I didn't know what to expect really - Chris summed it up when he said he feared 'supperclub'. But she was far from that and delivered a soulful and funky set, with a great band and brass section and an excellent light show. She's honed her set in Las Vegas for the last three years so that explains the sheer professionalism of the show.

Everyone surged to their feet when she came on stage the first time and again at various points during the concert. She was on stage for about 1.45 hours and sang a great selection of her hits and some tracks from her new album of covers - highlights for me were 'Midnight Train to Georgia', 'Friendship Train', 'Got to use your imagination', 'The Way We Were' (with some amazingly long sustained notes), 'License to Kill' and 'I heard it through the grapevine' as an enchore with Bubba doing his old Pips routine.

All in all, that was a fantastic night out. Especially since we were sitting in the third row from the stage (how did that happen? I could've sworn that we were on the first level at the back opposite the stage and kept expecting to be moved out of those seats...).

The evening ended with wandering round the back of the Hall in search of a stray taxi and seeing a crowd at the stage door which we then joined - for an hour! Bubba came out but we were told Gladys had left straight away - do we believe that or not? I suppose so. Then a two and a quarter hour journey home... yes, I don't understand it either.

But wow! I've seen Gladys and a Pip!