Live Report: Chaka Khan, All Together Now 2018

Chaka Khan closed All Together Now's Main Stage's first day, leaving an enraptured audience in a fit of euphoria, hugging and kissing each other.

The power of Khan's music is that while it's filled with positivity and songs about love and female strength, it's never twee. Khan has the ability to give these tracks an edge. Partly it's down to her confident, powerful persona ("This next song is a Rufus song. You remember Rufus? I don't," she hilariously joked at one point) but mostly it's that strong voice which can be deep enough to command a room but high enough to break glass.

Renditions of sexy "What Cha' Gonna Do for Me', emotional 'Packed My Bags' and female anthem 'I'm a Woman' from the offset put the crowd in a good mood. However, it's the romantic 'Tell Me Something Good' mid-way through the show which had all the couples around me embracing each other.

Khan's voice at 65 sounds better than ever. She is ably backed by a tight support band, particularly two guitarists who manage to turn the singer's R&B/funk tunes into Hendrix-like jams - complete with explosive shredding crescendos and plucking strings with their teeth. They even managed to entertain in Khan's absence during a mid-way interval/clothes change.

If audiences weren't already feeling a love buzz, they certainly were when Khan returned from her break to cover 'My Funny Valentine', putting her own funk stamp on the classic track.

However, all this was a starter for the main course still to come. Khan rapped her set with the one-two punch of classics 'I'm Every Woman' and 'Ain't Nobody'. These had every person at the main stage screaming the choruses at the top of their lungs, even shirtless lads. It was the perfect end to a set which was all killer, no filler and to a strong first day for the ATN Main Stage.