Sharon Jones did not know if she would be around to visit Brighton a year ago.
During a mid-set sermon she told the Dome faithful how she was “sick as a dog” with cancer.
She was only wrenched from her despondency after fans told her they loved her even if the 58-year-old had lost all her hair.
From then it was a case of dancing the cancer out of her body like a funky exorcism.
With energy to spare she ditched her shoes and showed off the boogaloo, the jerk, the twist, the waddle, the camel and tightrope.
Totally lacking self-consciousness Jones was performer at-times deranged with feverish funk and roaring voice.
Behind her she had one of the best bands in the business, the formidable Dap Kings.
During a rest to the breakneck pace she invited support act Lee Fields – the soul legend who gave Jones her break in 1996 - back onstage.
In steamy ballad Stranded badboy Fields tried to win round reluctant ex Jones. Part of the modern soul-funk revival, Jones never hit the big-time as a jobbing singer in the 1970s.
But she is certainly making up for lost time, a true phenomenon channelling James Brown in all his physical glory.
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