Warren Zevon’s last concert was full of firsts—and one prescient second. 

It was Aug. 9, 2002, and Zevon, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Matt Cartsonis, was playing Canada’s Edmonton Folk Festival. In a nod to the locale, Zevon performed his only live version of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and wound up the 12-song, 50-minute set – freshly released as Epilogue: Live at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival – with his lone rendering of “Canidee-i-o.” 

“I don’t play too many festivals, I don’t play too much folk music and I don’t really go outdoors very much,” a bemused and ever-laconic Zevon told the crowd of 14,000 early on. “No sir, I spend most of my time in the house the rising sun, yeah.”

Armed with a harmonica rack whilst alternating between acoustic guitar and piano, Zevon is in strong voice despite being in the early stages of mesothelioma. And with Cartsonis adding backgrounds and adroitly switching between banjo, fiddle, electric and acoustic guitars and dulcimer, the duo show has a much fuller sound than could be expected. 

Zevon, who died in 2003, was an electrifying performer and this final gig – even on tape nearly a quarter-century later—lives up to the reputation he made for himself on stage. And though he didn’t know he would never play again, Zevon seemed clairvoyant as he sung the second—and final—version of “Dirty Life and Times:”

“Who’ll lay me out and ease my worried mind/while I’m winding down my dirty life and times.” 

The balance is a career-spanning set that includes must-plays like “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” “Werewolves of London,” “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” and “Play it All Night Long” alongside newer material like “Detox Mansion” and “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song).” 

It may not make an ideal introduction to Zevon’s music, but Epilogue is a fitting coda—a gift to those who’ve followed him for ages.