MP3 LIVE: Willie Nelson does it all

Legendary singer rips through a 31-song set at San Francisco's Fillmore, covering country to reggae and everything in between.

SAN FRANCISCO--"Tryin' to do more than you can/and it got a little outta hand/you ain't Superman."

So sang Willie Nelson Tuesday night at The Fillmore in San Francisco, belting out the lyrics for a new song he wrote, "Superman," about his own limitations.

Oh, Willie, do we beg to differ.

The 72-year-old legend blazed through a 31-song set Tuesday night, showing a splendid blend of virtuosity, versatility, and, well--by squeezing it all into 90 minutes--efficiency.

Willie has built a remarkable career out of showing his fans just how close country music is to so many other genres, and it was all on display at The Fillmore: jazz, blues, folk, rock, ragtime, honkytonk, boogie woogie. Heck, he even threw in a cover of Jimmy Cliff's "Harder They Come" Tuesday night, with a nod and a wink to skeptics of his 2005 reggae album, Countryman.

In addition to his own astonishing songbook ("Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," "On The Road Again," "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground"), Nelson ripped through songs from a motley crew of artists as diverse as Cliff, Janis Joplin, George Thorogood, Frank Sinatra, and Merle Haggard.

His signature-sweet renditions of classics like "Always on My Mind" and "Georgia" were standouts, allowing Nelson to enrapture the crowd not just with the lyrics but something even more subtle: those quiet, almost empty spaces in between them that lets the line sink in.

The whole show had a bottom-heavy, bluesy element to it, whether it was Mickey Raphael's superb harmonica playing or Willie's own bluesy guitar riffs.

The packed house of old timers and good timers ate it up, singing along on most of the songs and roaring in response to Nelson's effortless charm.

But it's not just charm that makes Nelson so compelling to such a wide array of people. Mixed in with the aging country fans and transplanted Texans were plenty of hippies, yuppies, and cowboys for the night--all in amazement of one of music's greatest ambassadors.

When it gets down to it, Willie's brilliance--the mish-mash of genres, the clever lyrical turns, and the undeniably soulful, vibrant spirit--is all about livin': struggling, surviving, and smiling with a whiskey after it's all over.