Live Review: Ms Lauryn Hill

After a day of pouring rain, the clouds parted for the scores who had tramped into the Fremantle Arts Centre to see Lauryn Hill do her thang. It's been a long time since Hill was last in Australia, longer still since she was on her A-game. After a decade sitting on the backbenches of the international music scene and an infamous stint in jail last year for tax evasion, Hill has emerged radiant, focused and basically killing it.

Hill was half an hour late to the stage, but never mind that. Decked out in Fujiyama jumper, enormous gold hoop earrings and white hooded jacket, she looked every bit the soul-singing, rapping, mouthy poster girl of the '90s, albeit less girlish, more grown-up. At nearly 40 years old Hill sings a slightly deeper and raspier alto tune, though she is still stunningly energetic in performance.

Hill and band powered their way through reggae/funk/soul versions of hits mainly from Hill's wildly successful album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. The live arrangements were an exciting update on the album recordings, making full use of the outstanding band and trio of back-up singers, who slid between improvised jamming and pre-rehearsed riffs like it was no big deal. Further into the set an acoustic interlude was the apt spot to include a few numbers from her 2002 album, MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, providing an opportunity for Hill's remarkable voice to be heard with minimal accompaniment.

Ramping up the energy levels again, Hill launched into one of her more recent tracks, Consumerism, which she raps at breakneck speed. Fugees classics Zealots, Ready Or Not and Killing Me Softly proved popular with the crowd, as did Bob Marley cover, Could You Be Loved. Unfortunately at this point what had appeared to be a minor problem with the sound (evidenced by Hill gesticulating to the sound booth every other song) became a massive problem, with the microphones cutting out altogether for the final song, Doo Wop (That Thing). As the song wrapped up, sans vocals, several of Hill's children came on stage with a birthday cake, though it was unclear who the cake was for since the mics were still dead. Perhaps an early celebration for Hill, whose birthday was 26 May. Nevertheless the audience took a collective guess and sang Happy Birthday to Hill with gusto, and that was the strange end to an otherwise world class show.