A turn-of-the-century music hall seems like a specifically British throwback, now firmly associated with the campy excess of pantomime. This feels a world away from the natural habitat of Lucinda Williams (i.e. a smoky dive bar), but the pokey intimacy and period features of the Pavilion Theatre manage to create the right conditions for a special show tonight.

Williams suffered a stroke in 2020 and her mobility remains affected; she’s helped into position on stage and doesn’t move far for the next couple of hours. Impressively, she remains standing for the whole show, though at times she’s clearly frustrated by her inability to move more freely, having to make do with a few stilted gestures. However, when she starts to sing, any worries quickly melt away. Her voice has grown stronger with age (she just turned 73), full of wisdom and pathos, lending a gravitas to world-weary tales like ‘How Much Did You Get For Your Soul’, ‘The World’s Gone Wrong’ and a brilliant cover of ‘So Much Trouble in the World’. All three of those songs are from Williams’ just released new album, which is appropriately cynical about the state of the world, and she throws out a few jabs at the US administration while providing her song introductions.

Despite the melancholic tenor of much of her work, Williams is in good, chatty spirits. She tells stories about her life in the American South and interesting characters she’s known and lost. Of particular note is ‘Drunken Angel’; a beautiful elegy for her troubled friend, Blaze Foley.

Williams’ regular guitarist Doug Pettibone is unavailable tonight and is aptly replaced by Marc Ford (who also played on World’s Gone Wrong), adding a bluesy touch to these songs of love and heartbreak, and can stretch out on the only true blues song of the night: a cover of Skip James’ ‘Hard Times Killin’ Floor Blues’. Ford also played in Williams’ band for her 2024 album of Beatles covers, and his skills are put to excellent use on another great cover of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’.

The night ends with the wonderful ‘Joy’ and a fairly rote rendition of ‘Rockin’ in the Free World’, adding a dash of positivity to a set list more closely aligned to a jaded mindset. But Williams herself is a beacon of light throughout the evening, and manages to move a little closer to the audience to pay her respects and throw out a few tentative fist pumps. A legend through and through, tonight’s performance is a demonstration of excellence despite adversity, just like the fifty-year career of the iconic Lucinda Williams.