Four years ago, Rolling Stone put out a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, which, in light of Tuesday's show at Mr. Small's, now prompts this question:

Has anyone at that rag ever seen Curt Kirkwood?

Granted, the guitarist for the Meat Puppets lacks the high profile of those other guys, but he probably could play circles around a third of them.

Standing at the altar of Mr. Small's stage, shooting flares from his guitar on "Lake of Fire," Kirkwood had the worshipful crowd below in state of disbelief. What would possess a man to play like this -- other than, say, some cosmic melding of the spirits of Hendrix and Garcia (numbers 1 and 13, respectively)?

The Meat Puppets were back in town for the first time since that dubious Beaver Dome show with Primus in 1995, and proving they had regained the form they had in the late '80s before Kurt Cobain made them semi-famous.

The Puppets' range remains bizarre and extraordinary, from the bouncy pop of "Sam" to the country stomp of "Lost" to the dreamy psychedelia of "Plateau" to "Look at the Rain," Southern boogie so thrashy, they could barely control it. (In case you're keeping score, six songs from "Meat Puppets II"!)

Brother Cris Kirkwood, back from his battle with addiction, reminded us of what we'd been missing all those lost years. The skinny bassist was a blur of wild, flying hair and spidery fingers, keeping the rhythms hopping while stepping to the mike for those sometimes so-perfect, sometimes so-warped sibling harmonies. Ted Marcus didn't have anyone screaming for original drummer Derrick Bostrom.

The best moments came when Curt gave himself the space to shred. "Up on the Sun," dedicated to spirited openers The Bumps, escalated from Dead-like folk-rock into a long, ethereal jam that filled the chapel with echo. On "Oh Me" you could actually feel Kirkwood's electricity and feedback in your shoes.

The Puppets closed it out with their one stab at radio fame, "Backwater," and although by that point the Kirkwood brothers had blown just about everyone's minds, and ears, they still left fans pleading for more.

Let's hope this second coming of the Meat Puppets is for keeps.