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John Hiatt whipped the Barrymore crowd into a frenzy Thursday night. - File photo

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Sweaty, happy and danced-out: That's how the audience left John Hiatt's show Thursday night at the Barrymore Theatre.

Hiatt and his band the Ageless Beauties lived up to their name by proving that talent can only sweeten and intensify with age.

Opener Dana Erlandson got things started with a half-hour set of folksy songs. The Green Bay singer/songwriter, who last performed at the Barrymore as an opener for Nanci Griffith in April, is a storyteller at heart. He preludes most songs with an anecdote that ends in a pointed " and it goes like this."

Before playing "Illinois Plates," his signature song about northbound vacationers, he wondered at the large crowd assembled early for Hiatt in front of the stage: "They said it was gonna be a dancing crowd. I've never played in front of a mosh pit before."

He ended the set with "Fixing a Bridge," a song he performed recently at the Steelbridge Song Fest in Sturgeon Bay, then directed the audience to the lobby for CDs and "Illinois Plates" T-shirts at a merchandize table manned by his wife, Barb.

Hiatt hit the stage at 8:30 with "Drive South" and didn't let up for more than two hours. His nasal voice grew stronger and stronger throughout the show, ranging from a soaring wail on "Walk On" to scatting in "Old Days."

The vocal acrobatics in "Memphis in the Meantime" near the end of his show were reminiscent of the bluesy octave-jumping wails that "American Idol" contestants attempt (you know, where they dramatically hold a finger to one ear and make operatic noises while scrunching their faces in overwrought pain). Except Hiatt actually pulls it off and does it in a way that gets electric charges shimmying up your body.

The Ageless Beauties did more than just fill out Hiatt's sound. Drummer Kenneth Blevins, bassist Patrick O'Hearn and lead guitarist Doug Lancio turned the show into a hip-shaking dance party. Lancio switched between many instruments effortlessly, including a 12-string guitar and a twangy mandolin. On "Wrote It Down and Burned It," Lancio conjured an eerie soundscape behind Hiatt's bleak lyrics.

O'Hearn finger-picked an upright bass fiddle on most songs, a welcome change from electric bass. His acoustic bass made a full, booming sound and had a warmth that's missing in electric instruments.

Many of Hiatt's recent songs have grown out of reflections on his 22-year marriage, and he introduced "On With You" with a tribute to renewed love. ("Let's just say we've discovered many new uses for stainless steel counter tops. They're not just for cleaning.")

The audience went wild for "Slow Turning," and an older man standing close to the stage speakers deemed it "the best song about dysfunctional families ever." (One lyric goes, "I always thought our house was haunted / But nobody said boo to me / I never did get what I wanted / Now I get what I need.")

Hiatt worked the crowd up into a sing-along frenzy for the truck-drivin' number "Memphis in the Meantime." The entire crowd was standing by this point, shouting over and over, "I want to go to Mem-phis, ah-haw, haw, haw, haw, haw!"

The only problem with the show? A lot of beer got spilled on the floor because of all the dancing. But that's just part of the promise that Hiatt made the Madison audience in an interview last week: "Thrills, spills and chills."