If I can praise only one guitarist this year, I have to shout out Luther Dickinson. The man knows how to cause shivers to run up your spine with his slinky drop down blues riffs via a slide. The man has GOT IT. And lucky for The Black Crowes they are allowing him to plow the field with his on fire solos in such an unassuming manner you’d swear he wasn’t even there.
Kicking off with “Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution”, by the time they hit their second song, “Jealous Again”, their vibe in the room was electric. With incense lazily smoking up in the air from sticks stuck in apples on both sides of the dimly lit stage, you could tell this was going to be an intimately special evening. Chris Robinson in bare feet, full beard, long and lanky in a grey t-shirt, was feeling the moment. His singing raspy yet slinkily engrossing, his Jaggeresque moves almost at times seemingly in slow motion, he led his band of cool bandits through such songs as “Poor Elijah/Tribute To Johnson”, “Wiser Time”, “Thorn In My Pride” and “Twice As Hard”. “She Talks To Angels” caused a stir of singing amongst Crowes fans, while the encore of “Hard To Handle” and “Thick N Thin” created an arm waving body swinging frenzy.
Luther Dickinson, sliding into biting solos on “Sister Luck” and “Jealous Again”, had a brother-in-arms rapport with Rich Robinson, especially on “Wiser Time” where Rich followed Luther with a swampadelic fretting frenzy that almost blew the roof off this theatre by the Gulf. These two men work so well together you may even wonder where one ends and the other begins. That, folks, is how a band is supposed to be: All elements cooking together for the betterment of the song.
Not to be left out of this musical jambalaya, bassist Sven Pipien, keyboardist Adam MacDougall and drummers Steve Gorman and Joe Magistro were all main ingredients in making this concert one of the best of the year. It’s just too bad that The Crowes will be taking an indefinite hiatus once the tour ends. Let’s hope this sabbatical won’t last too long.
Setlist
Goodbye Daughters Of The Revolution, Jealous Again, Kickin My Heart Around, Sister Luck, Poor Elijah/Tribute To Johnson, Another Roadside Tragedy, Wiser Time, She Talks To Angels, Soul Singing, Thorn In My Pride, Twice As Hard. ENCORE: Hard To Handle, Thick N Thin.
