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Live Reviews
The Allman Brothers Band in Concert: Beacon Theatre 2003
Doug Collette
DC writes regularly about rock and roll, jazz and the blues, composing reviews of CD's, DVD's, live performances, books and films, as well as conducting interviews.“ ABB has reached a point where their legacy overshadows their myth because the septet is now as great a rock and roll band as they've ever been ”
A Fan's View & A Critic's View
Sitting in the Beacon Theatre on my birthday 2003, I had no idea the rock and roll epiphany I was about to experience. This band I had listened to for upwards of 30 years was about to remind me why I learned to love hearing them play and continued to for so long. Before this night and the next were over, The Allman Brothers circa 2003 gave me more reasons to rediscover them than I had dared anticipate.
The ABB came out swinging like a fighter determined to prove he still had all his punches. With their self-made classics in rapid fire sequence---'Done Somebody Wrong,' "Don't Keep Me Wonderin', " and 'Ain't Wastin' Time No More''the band upped the standard of even recent years mainly by dint of the guitar work of Derk Trucks and Warren Haynes: sterling enough in the contrast of slide styles on the latter tune, it was the tandem harmony work on 'Wonderin'' that confirmed the thought that, as a team, the two had become the equal of Duane and Dickey in their own prime. A startling admission to say the least
The night eventually belonged to the guitarists and only a slightly lesser extent the namesake of the band. Fighting his demons over the years had apparently made Gregg stronger because he was wailing much as he did when the first Allmans lp came out in 1969 when he sang 'Trouble No More.' The depth that his voice has gained over the years was apparent too on 'Leave My Blues at Home' from Idlewild South , but it was really on new material like the sultry 'Desdemona' that his delivery and his phrasing shone he can now croon as credibly as he growls.
The Latin-flavored instrumental interlude on the latter tune presented another reminder of the retooled jazz influences of the current ABB lineup. With the country leanings having left with Betts, all the new blood, Trucks, Haynes and wunderkind bassist Oteil Burbridge, have a broad jazz vocabulary and an eloquence in using it that puts this band in a category far above that of a mere jamband. The extended soloing on 'Dreams,' the intensity rising throughout the band with each transition, followed 'Southbound' which had been transformed by a horn arrangement as if written expressly for it, and set the audience to whooping just prior to the group's workout on their new warhorse 'Instrumental Illness,' the stretching of which left the studio version hollow.
As if these two sets didn't already size up to be the Allman Brothers show you'd most want to see as a diehard fan, the band encored with a flaming version of Derek & the Dominos "'Layla,"' as much a tribute to their late producer Tom Dowd as Warren's rendition of Van Morrison's "'Into The Mystic"' served as homage to Bill Graham; if Derek''s early notes of the rideout to the tune seemed tentative, it was excusable since a palpable recognition of the true source of this song choice' late Brother Duane Allman' was evident in the audience.
Short reflection on the concert provided some second thoughts on whether the Allmans actually sounded as magnificent as they did or whether my love for the sound of the band elevated the sensation in my own mind: were they just replicating it or were they in fact nailing the vigorous rhythmic attack overlaid with guitar work that sung as often as it stung? And was Gregg himself really that strong a singer still?
Next night's show erased all doubts, albeit in an unusual way. Whereas March 21st was a virtually litany of 'hits' interspersed with some well chosen covers like Howlin' Wolf's '"Forty Four Blues"' and Muddy Waters' '"The Same Thing,"' (not to mention a poignant reading of Sam Cooke''s '"A Change is Gonna Come'" by Gregg), this night the band worked in reverse, experimenting to a great degree, with staples of the repertoire sequenced in just such a way to maintain a powerful momentum no matter the tangent. So it was that 'Statesboro Blues' and 'Blackhearted Woman' launched the band(and the audience) before Gov't Mule's 'Banks of the Deep End' led to new numbers 'Maydell' and 'Rockin' Horse' while 'Please Call Home' was adorned with horns. Hearing Haynes sing 'I've Been Loving You Too Long'(with Jaimoe as the sole drummer and an expressive one at that) brought to mind the description of the Allmans as a jazz orchestra, but no more so than the blazing '"Come & Go Blues"' and most especially, the way the band snuck their way into "'In Memory of Elizabeth Reed':" Warren Haynes' orchestration of this performance, as he brought the sound down to a whisper, lifted it back into its roaring finale and in between engaged in some absolutely sublime call and response with Oteil, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt The Allman Brothers were at the peak of their powers. Slashing their way through an encore of 'One Way Out' left no second thoughts in many of the audience---I've never enjoyed being a fan of any band as much as I enjoy being a fan of the Allman Brothers Band right now.I
