Fresh from a tour opening for Robert Plant, Bettye LaVette was exhausted when she arrived at her favorite Dakota Jazz Club on Monday. So she planned to do only one show (instead of the usual two). And judging by her show, you couldn't tell she was tired. She gave a gut-wrenching, body-shaking, soul-sational performance. Since 2004, I've been raving about LaVette's many performances at the Dakota, and Monday's was exceptional. It was longer than usual because there was no second set. She sang for 80 minutes, generous considering that she throws her body and soul into nearly every single song. She inhabits the songs, strips them to their essence and gets you to think (or rethink) the meaning of every single word. Much of her set was taken from her new CD, "Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook." But you wouldn't have even recognized Ringo Starr's "It Don't Come Easy," which she recast as a simmering, spaced-out blues with the refrain "it ain't going (or growing) easy." Her presentation of the Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" came across like one-side of an argument. She Rufus-sized Derek & the Dominos' "Why Does Love Have to Be So Sad" into the night's funkiest, uptempo workout. Perhaps most memorable were Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," with the refrain delivered water-faucet-drippingly slow; the Rolling Stones' "Salt of the Earth," done as a sermon with updated lyrics about reality TV and HIV, and, of course, the Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me," with its langorous, repetitious piano notes, moaning guitar and her wailing, pleading, I-won't-be-denied voice. That song is destined to be her signature. The leather lunged LaVette, 65, also performed some earlier material including "The Woman in Me" and Sinead O'Connor's "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got," an a cappella benediction offered with a voice as dry as the desert she was singing about. What this performance proved – and what you'll realize if you see LaVette on Tuesday night at the Dakota– is that this veteran R&B star is a preacher, a pleader and one of our most precious interpreters of songs in any style. Opening was Paul Metsa, who showed off his lone jazz number, a Duke Ellington instrumental, and a few originals backed by two gospel singers known as the Precious Jewels. On Tuesday, he'll be joined by Mary Cutrufello. Monday's set list for Bettye LaVette: The Word/ Take Me as I Am/ Isn't It a Pity (George Harrison)/ They Call it Love/ Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Animals)/ Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues)/ You Don't Know Me at All/ Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)/ All My Love (Led Zeppelin)/ A Woman Like Me/ Love Reign O'er Me (the Who)/ It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)/ Salt of the Earth (Rolling Stones)/ Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad (Derek & the Dominos/Eric Clapton) ENCORE I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Sinead O'Connor)