Rappers love multiple aliases, so let's give Kid Rock another one: MC Bocephus.

        Kid Rock, a rock 'n' rap ruler who has a soft spot for country music, put on an entertaining two-hour show at the Firstar Center Friday night filled with several Hank Williams Jr.-type moments.

        The lively set focused on material from his 1998 breakthrough album Devil Without A Cause, but when he wasn't playing those songs Bocephus often became his muse.

        His performance during "3 Sheets to the Wind (What's My Name?)" was pure Hank Jr. He shot around the stage, running from musician to musician, borrowing a guitar, then keyboards, then turntables, then drums, for a go on each. Barring the turntables, we've seen Hank do the same thing. On guitar he played the riffs of ZZ Top's "La Grange" and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way," snippets no Hank show is complete without. Later he played a little of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama," another Hank favorite.

        Kid Rock and his DJ, Uncle Kracker, sang a song called "Heaven," which borrowed lyrics and melody from Hank's "If Heaven Ain't A Lot Like Dixie."

        The most striking Hank moment was when Kid cleared the stage for a solo acoustic-guitar blues describing life in the U.S.A. with a President Kid Rock. Drugs would be consumed aboard Air Force One. An executive order would turn churches into strip clubs. And, of course, the workin' man would get more pay. He even mixed in a Monday Night Football reference. All he was missing was the beer belly and the goofy beard.

        Even with all the Hank-isms, it was a varied set, and it moved along well. From hard-hitting rap-metal numbers like "American Bad Ass" and "Bawitdaba," to a merging of Fleetwood Mac's "Second Hand News" with his own "Wasting Time," to the duet with show-opener David Allan Coe on Steve Goodman and John Prine's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name," to the image of Kid's deceased sidekick Joe C. on the video screen, there was plenty worth remembering.

        And — just to square the deal — there was intellectual property Hank could borrow for his act, beginning with the utilization of four on-stage go-go dancers shaking the night away to the beat of the hillbilly boogie.

Show for lovers of home, garden
Planted in April, daffodils will bloom in May
Concert Review
Eclectic collector's estate up for auction
Love of tools sharpens gardeners
To do this week
Get to it