CHECK OUT THE AMAZING PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW HERE.

In regards to live music, there is a lot I am yet to do. Many more bands to see, many more places to go, many more festivals to encounter. I am hardly an expert on the world’s live music scene; if anyone can be considered for such a position is in itself debatable. Frankly, I don’t believe I have the wisdom, knowledge or plain old experience to call someone “the best live act in the world”. That said, Ms. Grace Jones may well have fulfilled that title.

From the top, it was a strange, humid night in the Enmore Theatre. Packed with a different type of crowd (even for the older generation), the punters were treated to a DJ playing – œ70s jazz and funk for starters. It was a short wait until Jones’ six piece band, including her son Paul on percussion, came to take up their instruments. Then waited. It was an inexplicably awkward moment, leading to some audience icebreakers including an impromptu Happy Birthday sing-a-long dedicated to bassist Marcus.

And suddenly, the lights dimmed, the curtains behind the band was raised and the spotlight hit the cultural icon and Sydney Festival headliner. Standing on a raised platform, dressed in fishnets, leotard and a mask, she burst directly into Nightclubbing with all the vocal prowess and vivacity of the world’s most powerful performers. She spared no expense towards perfection: constant costume changes, light shows, revolving platforms and an industrial fan creating more on-stage special effects than your latest Broadway musical.

Yet, the show never felt tacky, cheesy, corny or contrived. Rather, there was a feeling of true showmanship in every act, something lacking amongst most rock stars in today’s world. While Jones acted like a diva to the roadies on-stage, she treated her audience with the utmost respect and courtesy, calling us collectively “Mama Sydney”. Whether it be tribal dancing through My Jamaican Guy, giving her best operatic turn during her cover of La Vie En Rose or turning Roxy Music’s Love is the Drug into a laser-light disco spectacular, you felt her desire to truly impress and value-add to each song off her hefty back catalogue, as well as her latest release Hurricane.

Not to be outdone, the encore was set up as the perfect end to her show. From the audience-led version of Warm Leatherette, to the absolute party that was Pull Up To My Bumper (complete with confetti and an Iggy Pop-style stage invasion), there was not a single stoic body in the theatre. Closing with the title track off her latest album, she demonstrated everything that made the night perfect in one song: her remarkable vocals, the incredible stage set-up, the calculated tightness of the band and just a bit of diva-like destruction.

There are no words to describe how it feels to have seen a Grace Jones show. Simply, this night may well go down in folklore: the most perfect combination of stage theatrics, personality and professionalism ever.