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At 72, Gladys Knight's voice remains gloriously rock solid, sounding every note as vibrant as it did — perhaps more so — as when she was 32.

That voice needed no microphone as she played to a ramped-up, mostly full house at Ruth Eckerd Hall Monday night. That's why it's a damn shame the sound was so awful — for a lady whose voice would have easily carried across Ruth Eckerd's intimate venue, the unseemly gain and uneven levels all but ruined her otherwise flawless show.

And it was her show, despite a decent-sized band and lovely quartet of backup singers. Knight, ever the lady and consummate performer, gave the show her all, belting out contemporary songs, her standards and a sprinkling of gospel standbys. Throughout the 90-minute show — no intermission and no offstage time for anyone — she kept the crowd's energy on par with hers, bringing the levels up and down as she vacillated between tempos.

The highlight of the performance — no disrespect, Ms. Knight — came from her backup singers' inspired mash-up of Prince songs. Bonus: Even though Knight didn't join them until the end of this mash-up, anyone watching could see how much she enjoyed it — behind the quartet, she danced and sang (quietly and off-mic), clearly having fun even when she wasn't in the limelight.

There's no telling why Knight's mic was so rotten — at one point, the gain overpowered everything else on stage. As this isn't typically a problem at Ruth Eckerd, I can chalk it up to a one-time thing — a bad board, an engineer who wasn't quite on par, a missed soundcheck — although I will always regret that overshadowing the fine performance of a Motown legend.

This article appears in Jan 26 – Feb 2, 2017.