Eighteen years have passed since Bonnie Raitt joined Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, and other musical luminaries at the legendary “No Nukes” concert at Madison Square Garden. And while many of her way-back-when peers who also performed at that show have since suffered artistic or commercial setbacks — see Jackson Browne, Carly Simon, the Doobie Brothers — the red-haired roots-rock diva has demanded that Father Time treat her right.

In what was billed as the largest anti-nuclear concert since then, Raitt and the cause-obsessed Indigo Girls journeyed to the nation’s capital to protest the burial of nuclear waste on Native American land. The crowd was also treated to several surprises — a weathered-looking Browne kicked off the evening with an impromptu, three-song set and pop-folksinger Beth Nielsen Chapman hopped onstage for what seemed like every other song — but the evening’s most satisfying moments came when Raitt curled her whiskey-n-smoke-solid voice around one of her trademark slide-guitar licks.

In a daring, potentially disastrous move, Raitt opened her portion of the show with an a cappella version of Chapman’s new “Color of Roses.” “It’s gonna take a lot of ovaries for me to sing this in front of the woman who wrote it,” Raitt laughed nervously. “But Beth, I love you.” Raitt treated the dirge-like song with solemn respect, conveying more emotion at 48 than she could have at 30.

• Honor the Earth Presents No Nukes to Benefit NIRS

   

  A pretty good sounding recording of a great show. The lineup that evening included Jackson Browne, John Trudell, Indigo Girls, Ulali, Beth Nielson Chapman, and Bonnie Raitt. John Trudell guests on a stunning 'Scooter Boys', Amy and Emily join Bonnie Raitt for 'Angel From Montgomery', and the entire group joins together for 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee'. Bonnie Raitt's set is included.

• Indigo Girls - Shame On You

• Indigo Girls with Ulali - Burn All The Letters

• Indigo Girls - Tried To Be True

• Indigo Girls - Get Out The Map

• Indigo Girls with John Trudell - Scooter Boys

• Ulali - Unknown

• Indigo Girls with Ulali - Shed Your Skin

• Indigo Girls - Galileo

• Band Introductions

• Indigo Girls - Chickenman

• Indigo Girls with Bonnie Raitt & Beth Nielsen Chapman - Closer To Fine

• Bonnie Raitt - Dimming Of The Day

• Beth Nielsen Chapman & Bonnie Raitt - Sand And Water

• Bonnie Raitt - Rainy Day Man

• Bonnie Raitt - Write Me A Few Of Your Lines - Walkin' Blues

• Bonnie Raitt - Thing Called Love

• Bonnie Raitt with Indigo Girls - Angel From Montgomery

• Bonnie Raitt-Indigo Girls-Jackson Browne-Ulali-John Trudell-Beth Nielsen Chapman - Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

tip: most convenient way to listen while browsing along is to use the popup button of the player.

As the crowd erupted — some even stood for a shrieking ovation — Raitt invited her three-man backing band (drums, bass, piano) onstage, strapped on a guitar, and ripped into the old Aretha Franklin standard, “Baby I Love You.” If that wasn’t steamy enough, she followed it with a slowed-down bump-and-grind version of “The Road’s My Middle Name.” “Ooh, this is getting sooo slinky,” Raitt purred during her solo, directing her power poses and double entendres at husband Michael O’Keefe. She later tore into Robert Johnson’s “Walkin’ Blues,” then slipped casually into the obligatory “Thing Called Love.” For an encore, Raitt invited the Indigo Girls, Chapman, and Native American singing group Ulali onstage to join her on “Angel From Montgomery” and the Buffy Sainte-Marie classic “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”