Allman Brothers Band @ the Beacon: Night Eight – Boyer and Talton

While the story from most of the previous Allman Brothers Band March Madness performances at the Beacon Theatre in New York City focused around guests, last night’s concert was all about the band itself and how good they are playing right now. That’s not to say there weren’t special guests as Tommy Talton and Scott Boyer of severely underrated southern rock act Cowboy joined the Brothers during set two.

[Allman Brothers Band on Moogis.com]

Look beyond the setlist of last night’s first set, because it wasn’t about what they played but how they played it. ABB guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes tore into each solo with fire and passion, especially during Trucks’ instrumental, Bag End. The Brothers version of Warren’s River’s Gonna Rise continues to sound better each time out and Gregg Allman was in fine voice for the ferocious Every Hungry Woman closer.

Set One: Hot ‘lanta, Statesboro Blues, Don’t Keep Me Wondering, Rockin’ Horse, Stormy Monday, Bag End, River’s Gonna Rise, Every Hungry Woman

Set Two: Melissa, I Can’t Be Satisfied, Please Be With Me^, All My Friends^, Hoochie Coochie Man^^, Dreams, Revival > Bass > JaBuMaOt > Revival

Encore: Whipping Post

^ – w/ Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton
^^ – w/ Tommy Talton

[via AllmanBrothersBand.com Forums]

Last night’s second set was the shortest of the run and focused on original material at the beginning and end of it with Boyer and Talton coming out in the middle for a pair of Cowboy songs. Scott and Tommy led the Allmans through Please Be With Me, a song which featured Duane Allman contributing slide dobro to on the studio version, and All My Friends from Cowboy’s wonderful 5’ll Get You 10 LP. Talton, who was using Duane Allman’s goldtop Les Paul, stayed out for a rollicking cover of Hoochie Coochie Man. Standout versions of Dreams and Revival followed before the band hurried through the Whipping Post encore to make curfew. The Allman Brothers Band returns to the Beacon and Moogis.com on Monday night.