By Dave Miller

Garland Jeffreys has said every song he's written has been about about his hometown of New York City. He certainly brings the city's renowned energy with him onstage, too.

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Jeffreys performed with physical and emotional passion Friday evening at the inaugural Square Roots Festival in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. From the moment he took the stage through two encores, the 68-year-old poured himself into his seamless mix of rock and roll, soul, and reggae with an old-school delivery filled with contagious joy. Jeffreys clearly relished performing as much as people enjoyed watching him. "Such a pleasure, such a pleasure," he said after "We the People" near the end of the set.

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As soon as the show started, Jeffreys grabbed the micophone stand and leaned hard into his singing. He began with "Coney Island Winter" and "I'm Alive," two standout tracks from his triumphant first album in 13 years, The King of in Between (which was co-produced by ex-Dylan sideman Larry Campbell and features drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Pino Palladino and the backround singing of Lou Reed). Five new songs aired during the 15-song set including "'Til John Lee Hooker Calls Me," a rocking number with a rolling big boogie beat. The new songs fit perfectly next to his older ones with topics ranging from personal to social to racial. He's an unflinching songwriter who knows how to put words and music together.

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Jeffreys worked the stage, and beyond, like a master. One minute he was jumping on a speaker, the next saw him dropping to his knees. A man of the people with his generous performance and desire to reach them, Jeffreys ventured into the crowd a handful of times and his attuned band was with him every step of the way. His first foray into the fans came during the reggae tune, "Be Your Kind," and saw a determined return to the stage. Twice Jeffreys failed to leap back on the stage before he modified his running approach and found success on his third attempt. This was a man not to be stopped.

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One of his crowd-pleasing classics, "35 Millimeter Dreams," came early in the show and his biggest one, at least in the States, "Wild in the Streets," closed the main set in rousing fashion. Before "Wild in the Streets," Jeffreys played his big hit in Europe," Matador." He told an amusing story about the song being liked by Gene Simmons when they ran into each other at the Record Plant recording studio in the 1970s, and how he trusted the Kiss singer's intuition over his record company when the time came to release a single.

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Jeffreys returned to the stage for a pair of encores. The first brought his soul-meets-hip-hop "Hail Hail Rock 'n' Roll." The final one featured a cover of ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears," a song that Jeffreys joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for at their Netherlands show in May. As the band left the stage when the song was over, Jeffreys wasn't quite ready to call it quits. He sent everyone home with a "lullaby," an a cappella "Moonshine in a Cornfield" from his new album.

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After not playing Chicago since a Park West show in 1981, Jeffreys has become a regular visitor to these parts of late. It was his third show here in six months. (The first two were at FitzGerald's.) Jeffreys expressed appreciation for the support he's received here. "I get more airplay on WXRT now than I get in New York," he said. "Sounds like a move to me." After spending more than a decade concentrating on raising his daughter, Jeffreys is back on the scene, and his comeback is off to a heck of a start. You should make a point to catch him the next time he comes to town. He's the total package.

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The setlist: