By Chris Varias
Enquirer contributor

Allow him to sing the occasional questionable '70 classic-rock cover and the clichÈ-laden ballad of his own pen, too. Kid Rock earns the right to take a break or two within his otherwise nonstop two-hour rock-and-rap house party of a live show.

The Detroit hip-hop-and-more music man came to Riverbend Thursday and put on the best show of his last few trips to town, effectively synthesizing his rap-only past with the redneck rock he had been recording lately.

In his last couple Cincinnati shows Kid Rock came off like a hip-hop version of his good pal Hank Williams, Jr., as he loosely dabbled in all sorts of styles and covers with fun but sloppy results. This time was a streamlined effort. Rock, backed by a nine-member band, plucked the best songs off his 1998 smash Devil Without a Cause and rounded out the set with a lighter-flickering selection of tunes ranging from Bad Company's "Feel Like Makin' Love" and Bob Seger's "Night Moves" to originals in the same vein, such as "Midnight Train to Memphis" and "Jackson, Mississippi."

His Hank Jr. shtick is toned down but still evident. During "3 Sheets to the Wind (What's My Name)" Rock did the longtime Bocephus bit of circling the stage and playing the instruments of his band members. And although the Confederate flag unfurled during a snippet of "Free Bird," Rock mercifully omitted his hackneyed, Hank-styled if-I-was-president talking-blues number from the set.

The first 45 minutes of the show were the best, beginning with "Son of Detroit," a blast of rock-rap in which Kid Rock name-checked a laundry list of his favorite musicians - everyone from country star Merle Haggard to hip-hop pioneer Scott La Rock - over a John Lee Hooker riff. Then things revved up with hip-hop hits and highlights like "Welcome 2 the Party," "Devil Without a Cause," "Wasting Time" and "American Bad Ass." After that block, the crowd could take its first breath when Rock reached for the acoustic guitar and strummed away on the broken-heart love song "Midnight Train to Memphis," which, in light of "Night Train to Memphis" and "Midnight Train to Georgia," seems to be an unneeded entrant to the commuter-rail song tradition.

Rock is self-conscious about such newfound sensitive-guy maneuvers: "Where did all these songs about the ladies come from? I went and saw the wizard and got a heart," he joked to the crowd. But for every "Midnight Train to Memphis" there's a pair of party anthems like "Cowboy" and a "Bawitdaba," and at this moment, Rock has the balance just about right.