CHRIS ISAAK with Jude, at Kingsbury Hall, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.; one performance only.

The last time Chris Isaak performed in Utah was 1991, when he opened for Bonnie Raitt at Park West. Frankly, I didn't pay much attention to him: He seemed to be a one-hit wonder, whose one hit, "Wicked Game," made him sound half-comatose.Well, it turned out the problem was that Isaak wasn't in his element that night. His element, it turns out, includes a purple velvet suit festooned with sequins and an encore outfit made entirely of mirrors. It turns out that when Isaak is the show, the show makes you want to get up and dance.

Isaak, whose gets airplay more often for his dreamy, sometimes melancholy songs, is a happy, even goofy performer who obviously finds joy in performing for a hall full of fans, some of whom occasionally scream out "I love you!"

From the opening "Wanderin' " from his latest CD, to the second-encore Jerry Lee Lewis finale, Isaak's Kingsbury Hall show was upbeat and fun. Although he's most known for his minor-key wistfulness, his most engaging songs onstage are the more raucous ones, with drummer Kenney Dale Johnson thrashing the cymbals and Hershel Yatovitz wailing on lead guitar.

Isaak performed seven songs from the new CD, "Speak of the Devil," including "Flying" (his falsetto at its best) and "Don't Get So Down on Yourself," which he claims is about a woman from Salt Lake City.

Isaak hasn't had a follow-up hit as big as "Wicked Game," which is perhaps why he didn't play a large venue like the Delta Center. He's sanguine about his smaller success, though. "I just think that in the long term I may not be huge," he told the Boston Globe recently, "but I think I'll have a career that goes on because if I do what I like to do, I'll be OK." And so will his fans.

Opening for Isaak was Jude, a singer-songwriter whose one-name-only moniker implies a star-power he has not yet achieved. Soft-spoken and likable, with a soaring falsetto reminiscent of Isaak himself, Jude has a remarkable ability to pack a dictionary full of words into a single stanza. He is perhaps the only singer-songwriter in recent memory to use the word "supplicate" in a song.

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