John Popper, Blind Boys of Alabama and Joan Osborne Guest With The Allman Brothers Band @ Night Four of Beacon Run

The Allman Brothers Band continued their 11-show residency at the Beacon Theatre in New York City on Wednesday night. In line with what we reported, there were plenty of guests who sat in with the band at various points in the show.

[All Photos by Dino Perrucci]

For the first set, the Allmans mixed classics such as Midnight Rider and Good Clean Fun with the second-ever rendition of the Lesh/Haynes original Spots of Time. Towards the end of the set The Juke Horns emerged for a cover of It Makes No Difference, which was first played by the ABB during last year’s March Madness run. The horns stuck around for Don’t Keep Me Wondering and Same Thing. Blues Traveler harmonica wiz John Popper also helped out on the opening set-closing Same Thing.

When the Allmans returned for set two, they brought out a few guests with them. The Blind Boys of Alabama and keyboardist Pete Levin, who tours with the Blind Boys, emerged at the beginning of the second set for a version of their oft-performed House of the Rising Sun / Amazing Grace mashup. The five-time Grammy Award winning group stuck around to help out on Soulshine. While the Allmans had never performed Soulshine with The Blind Boys, Warren Haynes sang his signature tune with the veteran act at last summer’s Peach Fest and at the latest Christmas Jam. For their third and final song with the Brothers, the Blind Boys and vocalist Joan Osborne performed There Will Be A Light, a song written by Ben Harper that was the title track of a 2004 album that featured both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Following The Blind Boys of Alabama’s appearance, Joan Osborne stuck around, as did Levin and guitarist Joey Williams, to perform The Weight with the Allman Brothers and The Juke Horns. Osborne recorded a cover of The Weight for her 2002 album How Sweet It Is. Tonight’s version, as with all Allman Brothers Band versions of the tune, was more in line with the soul arrangement of The Weight originally performed by Aretha Franklin, with Duane Allman on guitar, for 1970’s This Girl’s In Love With You. Once the guest spots were through, the Allmans finished the set with a run of repertoire staples: No One To Run With, Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. The Allman Brothers Band closed out the show with a two-song, guest-laden encore. First up was a cover of Van Morrison’s And It Stoned Me featuring The Juke Horns which was followed by a rendition of You Don’t Love Me that saw contributions from Popper and Williams.

Setlist:

Set One: Trouble No More, Midnight Rider, Done Somebody Wrong, Spots of Time, Leave Me Blues, Good Clean Fun, It Makes No Difference (w/ The Juke Horns), Don’t Keep Me Wondering (w/ The Juke Horns), Same Thing (w/ The Juke Horns and John Popper)

Set Two: Amazing Grace/House of the Rising Sun (Blind Boys, w/Pete Levin on Organ), Soulshine (Blind Boys), There Will Be a Light (Blind Boys with Joan Osborne, Pete Levin on Organ), The Weight (w/ The Horns, Joan Osborne, Pete Levin on Keyboards and Joey Wiliams Guitar), Nobody Left to Run With, Ain’t Wastin Time No More, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed

Encore: And It Stoned Me (w/ The Juke Horns), You Don’t Love Me (w/ John Popper and Joey Williams)