BY JUD COST

Roky Erickson triumphantly returned to the Fillmore auditorium on May 20 for the first time since the summer of 1966, back when he was the lead singer for trailblazing Austin, Texas psychedelic-rock band the 13th Floor Elevators. The hippie ballroom scene was about to bust wide open at Bill Graham's Fillmore and at the Avalon, run by Chet Helms, fueled by a percolating Bay Area music scene that included Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Grateful Dead, Country Joe & the Fish and Big Brother and the Holding Co., whose vocalist, Janis Joplin, had recently emigrated to San Fran from Texas. The Elevators - featuring Erickson's banshee howl, Stacy Sutherland's blistering guitar leads, Ronnie Leatherman on bass, John Ike Walton on drums and the other-worldly sound of Tommy Hall's electric jug - fit right in with these legends-in-waiting.

Tonight is also Erickson's first San Francisco show backed by hotshot Austin indie-rockers Okkervil River. And some of the natives, many of whom look old enough to have been here for those Elevators shows 46 years ago, are having pre-concert doubts. "I'm afraid this new band is gonna suck," one cane-wielding greybeard was overheard telling another as he handed over his western duster to the hatcheck girl. The old-timers, and recent converts too, needn't have worried. Okkervil River is a perfect fit for the man they backed on the just-released True Love Cast Out All Evil (Anti-), Erickson's first album of all new material in decades. 

Dressed in an oversized black shirt with two white lines going north and south down the front, Erickson's put on a little weight since he was last in town in 2008, backed by the battle-hardened Black Angels. He's sporting shoulder-length hair, shaggy eyebrows and a full, well groomed beard these days. The clean-shaven guy with the semi-mullet, dressed in a shirt he might have purchased at a Honolulu gift shop has definitely left the building. Now decked out to fit his undeniable place in rock history, this man looks like he might really have walked with a zombie last night.

Erickson has an eagle eye trained all night on Okkervil River vocalist Will Sheff, the man who produced the shockingly excellent new CD and helped to totally revamp Roky's set list. An old chestnut kicks things off, "Night Of The Vampire," slowed down to a funereal crawl, with Erickson right on the money, singing as forcefully as he did with the Explosives and the Aliens, circa 1979-82. "Two Headed Dog," a song Roky could nail in his sleep, and "Don't Slander Me" are perfectly rendered with the help of Okkervil's three-guitar, multi-hued lysergic palette.

The only selection that seems a little undercooked is a cover of Little Richard's "Ooh My Soul," a surprisingly lifeless treatment of something from the Georgia Peach, the man Erickson idolized on late-night radio as a youngster. "Starry Eyes," a song Roky might have tracked with Buddy Holly if the Lubbock star's life hadn't been cut tragically short in 1959, sounds terrific, as it always does.

"I Walked With A Zombie," with Roky repeating the refrain by cycling through the alphabet - "I walked with a Zombie/I walked with 'b' Zombie/I walked with 'c' Zombie" - is the last of the Stu Cook-produced 1981 "monster movie" classics hooked up to the electrodes and wheeled out into a lightning storm tonight. "True Love Cast Out All Evil" has a back-porch country vibe that allows Erickson room to show a nice Merle Haggard side to his voice, previously kept under wraps. Adding just the right organ touches to this material, Okkervil's Scott Brackett also wielded a stirring mariachi-style trumpet when called for.

What might have been the absolute highlight of this 80-minute set is also the backbone of the new album, "Goodbye Sweet Dreams." As outstanding as anything Erickson's written since the glory days of the Elevators, it sounds like it was wrapped up in a slightly singed sheet of newspaper, retrieved from the fireplace before it was consumed by flames. Inhaling its smoky perfume simultaneously brings tears to the eyes and raises hackles on the back of your neck as the wailing guitars delicately filet your mind. 

A crushing one-two punch brings this impressive set to a swift conclusion. Without the insinuating madness of the electric jug, Elevators classic "Reverberation" is boiled down to its Jefferson Airplane-like, folk-rock essence. "You're Gonna Miss Me," the regional hit that, for one of the few times in his career left Dick Clark speechless when the Elevators played it on American Bandstand in '66, sends everyone out into the late night drizzle wearing sandals of Mercury. They've born witness to the most recent chapter of the rehabilitation of Roky Erickson, now recovered from the depressed, unhealthy state of 10 years ago, and recently reconnected with former wife Dana and son Jegar. Just as important, Erickson is making some of the best music of his long career before an adoring public. What could be sweeter!

[Photo credit: Todd Wolfson]

Read our interview with Okkervil's Will Sheff about his band's collaboration with Erickson here.