ST. PETERSBURG - There’s live and there’s real live. Friday night, Bettye Lavette was real live.

It didn’t hurt that Lavette performed at the intimate Palladium. Not only could the crowd hear every inflection in her voice, it could see the expression on her face.

Lavette’s got a voice made for soul music, supple, husky and capable of pinning a listener to the wall with a single, well-placed note.

On some well-chosen showcase numbers, the concert became more than a great soul show. It was great theater.

There was nothing showy or bombastic to it, no scenery-chewing or campy emoting. Lavette simply inhabited the lyrics, going beyond performance into a sort of musical channeling.

Show turned George Jones’ “Choices” into gospel that went beyond testimony and into confession.

Witnessing “I Guess We Shouldn’t Talk About That Now” was like eavesdropping on two lovers realizing they’re at the end of the road.  Her remake of Elton John’s “Talking Old Soldiers” was less a song and more a soliloquy, and a breath-taking one at that.

Lavette ended the show alone on the stage, turning Sinead O’Connor’s “I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got” into both a prayer of gratitude and a statement of defiant independence.

She rocked hard as well. She opened with a white-hot version of Free’s ”The Stealer” and was just as forceful on “You Don’t Know Me At All.” Going back to her earliest recordings, Lavette, 63, wailed powerfully sans microphone on “You’ll Never Change.” 

Lavette’s been at it for 47 years with little success until recently. But recently she scored a Grammy nomination and she also sang “A Change Is Gonna Come” at President Obama’s inauguration. (She also performed the Sam Cooke tune Friday night). This show, presented by listener-supported radio station WMNF, 88.5 FM, proved that Lavette’s recognition is both well deserved and long overdue.