Photo Dino Perrucci

Seeing a Sly & the Family Stone show isn’t like seeing other shows: you go in expecting a train wreck and everything short of a no-show is considered a miracle. But unlike, say, seeing one of the many oldies acts that have rolled through the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill over the years, seeing Sly & the Family Stone is also an event and with good reason: one of the 1960/70’s most consistently covered musicians and, perhaps, the most sampled artist in the history of pop music, Stone has managed to remain in the public eye despite being an infamous recluse for the last 20 years. He’s also one of the few musicians both hip-hop MCs and psychedelic guitarists cite as an influence, which likely accounts for the show’s incredibly eclectic audience.

That’s not to say the evening didn’t occasionally veer into oncoming traffic. The band was scheduled to go on at 10:30 PM, but didn’t hit the stage until around midnight, keeping everyone from Chris Rock to the members of My Morning Jacket wondering when and if Stone would, in fact, take the stage. When he did appear, Stone looked more like Flavor Flav than the man who revolutionized soul music, appearing shriveled and wearing a silver suit that simply screamed “Bling!” But once his band joined after a short, somewhat coherent ramble, Stone delivered a strong, funky 45-minute set, stacked with hits ranging from “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” to “Family Affair” to “Sex Machine” to a set-closing “I Want to Take You Higher.”

Fronting a group that fell somewhere between a tight, funky cover band and an authentic version of the Family Stone (featuring classic members Jerry Martini, Cynthia Robinson and Rose Stone’s daughter Lisa Stone, among numerous ringers), Stone appeared in top form, singing lead throughout the night and actually using his Vocoder as an instrument, instead of a prop a la Brian Wilson. Like the other shows on his “reunion” run, Stone did leave the stage for a “break,” joking that “he’s an old man,” but quickly returned to finish his set. By around 12:50am, he’d vanished again, but the Family Stone finished the night with one final jam. Some people complained about the show’s length, others were just glad Sly showed up. Nobody was really sure they’d have the chance to see him again.