It was an idyllic southern California night complete with a burning orange and red sunset, gentle breeze swaying postcard palm trees, and John Hiatt with the North Mississippi Allstars (NMA) tearing up the stage at Humphrey's By the Bay in San Diego. Toward the end of his 90-minute set, Hiatt said, "the weathermen said it was going to rain...I guess they were wrong like they always are," before ripping into his rocking set-closing number "The Tiki Bar Is Open". Here, the synergy of Hiatt's 30+ years performing experience combined with the youthful energy of the NMA's driving rhythm section brought the crowd to their feet. It's summertime in SoCal.

The rain actually came the night before, clearing the air and washing away any doubt of bad weather reinforcing once more that Humphrey's By the Bay is perhaps the quintessential intimate California outdoor live music venue. And, judging by Hiatt's perpetual smile and ubiquitous dose of facial expressions and grimaces, he was there not only to entertain the almost sold-out crowd but to have serious fun.

To be sure, this is not the first Hiatt show I've attended. A couple years ago, he did an interesting mini-tour with peer singer-songwriter guitarists Joe Ely, Guy Clark, and Lyle Lovett. And just before recording his latest release, Master of Disaster, he performed a solo acoustic show where he tested some songs off the new album at the venerable Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Humphrey's By the Bay on San Diego's Shelter Island is a waterfront hotel, gourmet restaurant, and outdoor theatre. In the early 80s it started what was then a summer smooth jazz concert series. Besides Hiatt, the 1300-seat outdoor theater, now in its 25th year and thanks to California's endless summer, sees more than 80 nights of music and comedy this year including Boz Scaggs, Lyle Lovett, India Arie, Blues Traveler, Queensryche, and Emmy Lou Harris — a wonderfully diverse and more interesting lineup than the smooth jazz Humphrey's started with years ago.

Tonight's show opened up with a short electric set by the North Mississippi Allstars, Hiatt's supporting band featuring Luther and Cody Dickinson on guitar and drums and Chris Chew on bass. The Dickinson brothers are sons of legendary Memphis record producer Jim Dickinson. Ironic enough, the elder Dickinson produced Hiatt's 21st album, Master of Disaster, which this tour is featuring and promoting.