The I Hear Thunder Tour co-headlined by Tab Benoit and Anders Osborne triumphantly made its way to Warren, Ohio’s beautifully-restored 101 year-old Robins Theater. Friends for 35 years, the duo smoothly used their personal history to benefit their onstage chemistry. Each took turns on lead vocals and featured their own material throughout the 105-minute set in a manner reminiscent of Jerry Garcia and Bobby Weir or more recently during a slate of shows by Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt.

The setlist featured a series of scorching blues numbers, which gave Benoit multiple opportunities to produce one fierce solo after another – Benoit’s “Nothing Takes the Place of You” and Osborne’s “Move Back to Mississippi and “Different Drum.” Still, with a New Orleans influence in the musicians’ DNA — and the supportive rhythm section of Corey Duplechin (bass) and Chip Vayenas (drums) — the songs contained enough bayou groove along with the Delta Blues that the audience could either sit back and be in awe of the instrumental talent or dance throughout the night…or do both.

A rare break came in the form of Osborne’s reggae-tinged “Got Your Heart” from 2010’s American Patchwork and the Cajun-bred “We Make a Good Gumbo.” The set included stops on both artist’s latest releases – “Real Good Dirt” from Osborne’s “Picasso’s Villa” and Benoit’s “Why, Why” from his upcoming I Hear Thunder, out on Aug. 30. Appropriately enough, the night ended with a song dear to both of them – “Katrina,” which deals with the aftermath of the area hit by the hurricane of the same name and found Benoit on drums. And, because the main attractions were in such good spirits, they gifted the crowd with “lagniappe” (pronounced lan-yap), a Cajun word meaning “a little something extra.” Appropriately enough, it was the title track of “I Hear Thunder,” which brought acoustic blues opener Larry McCray back onstage to offer an electric solo.