On Monday it was time to experience the particular pleasure that is Marianne Faithfull in concert. She was appearing at the Royal Festival Hall to promote her album of idiosyncratic cover versions EASY COME EASY GO. The last time we saw Marianne at the Festival Hall was during Patti Smith's Meltdown Festival when she was a guest in one of the great 'theme' shows staged.

We saw her earlier this year at St. Lukes Church playing with her band for the first time and it was an edgy, wary affair. What a difference 5 months playing together can do! Marianne and her musicians meshed tonight marvellously and in particular, they gave her BROKEN ENGLISH classic tracks - THE BALLAD OF LUCY JORDAN, WHY D'YA DO IT? and the title track - an intensity which made one hear them as if for the first time.It took a couple of songs for Marianne to find her feet vocally but soon she was laughing and relaxed and as usual, stopped midway for an urgent re-application of Chanel lippy.

We had great seats about 8 rows back in the centre so were on eye-level with her and of course, she was as hypnotic as ever. No matter how good the solo her band member is playing, you can't take your eyes off her.

Surprisingly the show started at 7:30 and was over by 9:15! How nice not to have to endure a support act - if a performer who has been singing for 45 years can't do a full show then someone is taking the piss.

My favourites from her 17 song set were BROKEN ENGLISH, IN GERMANY BEFORE THE WAR (with it's sleazy Weimar "Mack the Knife" intro), KIMBIE, THE BALLAD OF LUCY JORDAN, SISTER MORPHINE, AS TEARS GO BY (and yes of course I joined in!), WHY D'YA DO IT?, SING ME BACK HOME and DON'T FORGET ME.

I have been seeing her in concert for the last 14 years and as she gets better and better it becomes more apparent that she remains criminally under-valued as a performer.