Bonnie Raitt, Cardiff International Arena

Kick-ass country-blues from the truckstop Titian

Just like George, and also Ry Cooder, whose early albums shared a similar curatorial approach, Raitt knows how to make her guitar burr with the sound of barely controlled electricity, a massive, elemental surge that's sculpted into inchoate slabs of noise, bare wires tingling on each chord's decay. Her singing voice, too, is a thing of beauty: understated, soulful, iconically American (did you know her father starred in the first production of Carousel?).

Though this date took a while to get going - an arena isn't the place to see one of the best kick-ass bar bands in the world - Raitt prevailed, saving her best for the encores, and following two poignant ballads with an extended slide-feature where she really cut loose. Catch her in a smaller hall, as on the rest of this tour, and everything should be fine.

Oh, and it's not every day you get to see an ex-Beach Boy (who's also an ex-Rutle), the drummer, Ricky Fataar, either.

Monday, Brighton Dome Theatre; Tuesday, Bristol Colston Hall; Thursday, Newcastle City Hall; Friday, Sheffield City Hall