It's no doubt a sign of our current economic uncertainty that two acts that would have been separate headliners a few years ago are now touring together. Thus, Wednesday night, approximately 14,000 fans gathered to see Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock at the Superpages.com Center.

It was an appropriate pairing; both Skynyrd and Kid Rock specialize in deep-fried Southern rock.

But there are differences: One of the originators of the genre of hard-driving, guitar-heavy Southern boogie, Lynyrd Skynyrd has become a group of classicists, playing for the most part songs more than 30 years old.

Not that the audience minded. Versions of tunes like "Simple Man," "Gimme Three Steps" and "Call Me the Breeze" probably sounded better than they did during the band's hard-partying heyday and had the crowd on their feet, hollering, for the duration of the set. An encore of "Free Bird" was the reward for their enthusiasm.

Kid Rock obviously knows and loves Southern rock, but it's just one of the strands he wove together Wednesday night, mixing it with hip-hop, country and straight-up rock 'n' roll.

Fronting his longtime Twisted Brown Trucker Band, he roamed through his catalog, from his name-making 1998 Devil Without a Cause ("Cowboy," "Only God Knows Why") to his recent Rock N Roll Jesus (the title track, "Amen").

His talent for mashing up his influences also showed in the way he'd drop parts of hits like Sly Stone's "Everyday People" into the middle of his songs.

The best moment, however, came when he did "All Summer Long," a nostalgic anthem that combined hooks from Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." It – and the whole evening – was as good a summation of a genre's alpha and omega as you're likely to find.

Matt Weitz is a Dallas freelance writer.