Listen to the first few notes of a Dionne Warwick song and you are ready to sing along. On Friday night, January 23, that was the scene as the legendary songstress invited a packed house at B.B. King’s on 42nd Street, to join in.

And join in they did, from the first song until the last when Warwick joined forces with her son, David Elliott, and his daughter, Cheyenne, to close the program with “That’s What Friends Are For,” bringing the audience to its feet.

Resplendent in an aqua ruffled dress, Warwick, at age 69, can still command a stage. She has become so identified with her songs, most of them written by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, that they are rarely recorded or even sung by other singers. Backed up by an outstanding six-piece band, her voice still resonates with the complexity and emotion once praised by Bacharach.

The crowd at B.B. King’s, composed mostly of Baby Boomers, but with a younger element thrown in, broke into spontaneous applause with each recognizable song. Yet she didn’t settle for merely repeating her past hits. Sharing the mike with her son, their duet of “I’ll Say a Little Prayer for You,” was updated with a faster beat and more intricate vocals. She shared her love for Brazil by infusing several of her signature songs, including, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” with a salsa beat, daring the audience, “not to shake anything.”

The only disappointment—no encore. The audience drifted off, the songs still fresh in their heads, to sing by themselves on the way home.