Dave Edmunds’ Revue a Smoking Combination

Whatever the questionable ethics of a rock show taking place under the glaring banners of a tobacco company, “Dave Edmunds’ Rock & Roll Revue” was certainly smoking at the Universal Amphitheatre on Friday. The unlikely grouping of Edmunds, Graham Parker, Dion and the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Kim Wilson was a salute to the multi-act bills common in the ‘50s, and by show’s end the combination seemed nothing less than inspired.

Pumped by a nine-piece band--with Stax guitar legend Steve Cropper playing with a marvelous incandescence throughout--the singers worked at their peaks. Wilson sank his powerful, emotive voice deep into the soul ballad “Wasted Tears.” Parker and Dion each worked the far ends of their catalogues, with an upbeat Parker reaching back to ’76 for “Heat Treatment.” Dion drew from his recent “Yo, Frankie” album and his ‘50s classics and teamed with Parker and Edmunds for a disarmingly moving reinterpretation of “Abraham, Martin and John.”

Edmunds more than made up for his moribund shows of recent years with his charged vocals and snarling guitar work on the hook-crammed “King of Love” and “Paralyzed.”