Considering that I had been trying to find a "taker" here for the extra Allman Brothers Band ticket I had over the past week, it's no surprise that I was at the show at The Beacon Theatre last night. (BTW - I didn't get within 20 feet of the entrance of the venue and I had a buyer for the extra ticket. So that was a great relief to start off the night.)
Here's my review.The show kicked off with two songs that I didn't recognize and I immediately thought to myself, "Oh boy! This is gonna be a strange set." (Yes, I'm a fan, but I can't say I know every single song they've ever done.) Thankfully, "Trouble no more" was the third song "in" and I exhaled.
I know I'm probably going to "tick off" a lot of Allman's fans, but for a good majority of the night I felt the band was trying to "find itself". The Allmans were still driven by enough drums, drummers and percussion to "sink a battleship", along with a good solid bottom end from bassist Oteil Burbidge. Greg Allman's voice and keyboards were the familiar thread that tied things together somewhat, but things seemed disjointed at times.
With some songs they should've dropped the Allman Brothers from their name and just called themselves "The Band", because that's who they sounded like. Yeah, it was blues infused Southern rock, but I think the 5 piece horn section complicated things. Too often the horn section made me think they should've swapped in "Blues" for "Allman" in their name and brought out Belushi and Aykroyd in full "Blues Brothers" regalia. At this point I'm wondering if they shouldn't have named this the 2013 "Identity Crisis" tour!?! Luckily, "Statesboro Blues" and "One Way Out" in between all of the horn work kept the Allman Brothers Band sound still on my radar.
Don't get me wrong. It was all great music, performed by wonderfully talented musicians (better than I could ever dream of being) but to me (so far, anyway) it just wasn't the Allman Brothers. Anybody that knows me can tell you that I LOVE horn driven bands (e.g.: Tower of Power, BS&T, Chicago, Chase, etc...) but in this case it was like "putting ketchup on the best New York City pastrami sandwich you can find" - ugh! - things just weren't right! I'm not here to "tear down" the current two guitarists in the band, but that's where I felt the gap from the original members to the current was the largest. They played off to themselves (musically, not physically) way too often for me. Sadly, it wasn't until deep into their second set did any Allman Brothers signature "double-lead" guitar work come into play and it was only for a handful of bars.
Finally, in the last song of the second set the "real" Allman Brothers Band arrived in true "jam band" fashion! They lit things up with a great rendition of "Les Brers in A Minor" highlighted by a rolling bass solo by Oteil Burbidge and a triple drummer extravaganza, drum and percussion "fest" before everyone joined back in to end the song. They came out for one encore and played all-time favorite "Whipping Post" to a standing ovation crowd.
I guess to sum things up, one shouldn't anticipate what a live concert will be like or play the whole damned show in your head before the house lights even come down. Going into a show with that mindset will surely lead you to some disappointing moments. Again, I had a really, really good time last night - but it wasn't 100% pure "live" Allman Brothers to me. No offense to the 2013 lineup (and maybe it's not a fair comparison) but after all these years I have found a much bigger appreciation of Duane Allman, Dickey Betts & Berry Oakley after attending last nights show. I realize now more than ever that the three of them (along with the rest of the original band) displayed a musical cohesiveness that's rarely achieved, be it live or in the studio. Their interplay, double guitar solos and counterpoint to each other is something to be cherished. When you get home, blow off the dust on your old Allmans LP's and give them a listen. You'll come to the same revelation that I did last night.
Thanks for reading all of this, if you've gotten this far!?!
SN
