TORONTO - As soon as she stepped onstage, Joan Baez said she wanted to celebrate.

"It feels as though the country's had a bath," said the American folk icon on Saturday night, referencing Barack Obama's election victory and receiving huge cheers from the audience at Massey Hall.

While she has avoided political endorsements throughout her career, this year, Baez outspokenly gave her support to Obama.

Though she never spoke the president-elect's name, her 100-minute set contained a few key references to America's current political landscape. For example, her poignant rendition of Christmas in Washington -- originally written by Steve Earle, who produced her new album, Day After Tomorrow -- inspired cheers when she sung about a president who "cannot seek another term."

Baez, 67, also told a touching and humourous story about her interactions with Martin Luther King, Jr. Once, when King had trouble waking up to deliver a sermon, Baez was told to enter his room and awaken him with a song.

She then recited Swing Low, Sweet Chariot -- both in King's room and at Massey Hall Saturday night -- with her strong voice dancing over the tune's heavenly high notes. Even though King didn't wake up, he did roll over with a mumble.

"Mmm, Joan," he said, "I think I hear the sound of an angel. Sing me another one."

Again, she never mentioned the president-elect by name during her show -- even though she was present during King's "I Have a Dream" speech four decades ago -- but the quiet connections were there.

Baez, a key figure in America's song-based protest movement, also told the crowd she wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her career.

"The crazy part is," she said, "I'm still here doing it, and you're still coming to watch it."

She seemed relaxed throughout the set, telling jokes and transitioning smoothly from classics like Farewell Angelina and Diamonds & Rust to newer songs like Scarlet Tide and God is God. The later song benefited from the blissful chaos of four people strumming acoustic instruments at the same time.

Her three-piece backing band -- consisting of guitarist John Doyle, bassist Todd Phillips and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell -- joined her for much of the set. The musicians also occasionally contributed backing vocals, delighting the audience with solid harmonies during songs like Gospel Ship.

Baez, her dangly earrings catching the light, won over the crowd with her wide smile and easygoing humour. Audience members laughed as she parodied Bob Dylan's singing style and told stories about Johnny Cash's rascal tendencies.

"When I first met Johnny," she recalled, "he was with his first wife, and that's exactly how he introduced her."

However, at other times, she used humour to mask her mistakes, a technique that didn't always work. She struggled with tuning problems, feedback issues and forgotten guitar picks, things that shouldn't affect a music veteran of five decades who uses a fairly straightforward acoustic set-up.

While she laughed it off -- saying things like "you weren't supposed to see that" when someone brought her picks -- it still generated awkward breaks in the performance.

Nonetheless, her powerful voice was in fine form, and she led the crowd in a massive sing-a-long for her final three numbers, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, Imagine and Amazing Grace.

She seemed to keep the audience in a trance, with an appeal still strong after 50 years of performing, and a civil rights message still very relevant to that historic thing that happened last week.

Sun Rating: 3 out of 5