Concert Review: The Allman Brothers Band and The Drive-By Truckers At Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre, Charlotte, NC
Published August 14, 2007
Last week in Charlotte, North Carolina was the hottest week I've encountered since I moved here over five years ago. In fact, the August 8th temperature of 104 degrees tied the all-time record for the hottest day the city has ever seen.
Unfortunately for the Drive-By Truckers and The Allman Brothers Band, this was also the week they performed at Charlotte's Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in an outdoor venue fully exposed to the heat. I was dreading sitting among a huge, sweaty crowd for so long, but I wouldn't miss a show like this for the world. But although hot and uncomfortable at times, it was worth every drop of sweat that fell from my body. I would have gladly sacrificed even more to be present at this incredible show.
The Drive-By Truckers put on a fine performance and took the brunt of the heat before the sun went down. Their sound was muddy, and instruments kept fading in and out, but sound-system issues aside, they were tons of fun, and a perfect warm-up act for the mighty Allman Brothers. I could write pages of positive words on the DBT performance, but coming before the ABB is a hard act to follow.
The Allman Brothers Band has had 12 different line-ups since their beginning back in 1969, and the current incarnation had me extremely excited. This may be the most powerful roster the band has seen yet (sorry Dickey). Of the 7 band members the only original members are Gregg Allman (Vocals, Organ, Piano, Guitar), Butch Trucks (Drums, Tympani), and Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (Drums, Percussion). Percussionist Marc Quinones has been with the band since 1991, bassist Oteil Burbridge since 1997. And since 2001 the line-up also includes both Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes on the guitars.
To put it bluntly, this was the best show I have seen all year. It was a reminder of why the jam band genre is so popular and why the no one can touch the Allman Brothers Band when it comes to the current population of jam bands working today.
These are seven musicians who are complete masters of their craft. Every one of them not only contributed to the whole, but each stole the show at various times during the performance. Trucks and Haynes were simply mesmerizing, with Haynes providing detailed, flawless guitar and Derek taking slide guitar to a level not yet seen by mankind. Both did so in an unpretentious way that never distracted from the performance as a whole.
The rhythm section kept a backbeat that was a strong as iron, but peppered with the kind of complexities and dynamic surges that you simply can't achieve with a single drummer.
Gregg sat in his B3 throne like a gentle king providing sweet organ and piano backgrounds. For the encore, Gregg came out from behind the keys to perform the only acoustic guitar based number of the night with the perpetually popular "Melissa," penned 40 years ago.
If a new law was passed and music was forced to become like sport, with only the very best having the ability of going pro, the Allman brothers would have nothing to worry about.
They're still at the top of their game, and if you haven't seen the current line-up make a point to do so. Never mind the weather.
- Concert Review: The Allman Brothers Band and The Drive-By Truckers At Verizon Wireless Ampitheatre, Charlotte, NC
- Published: August 14, 2007
- Type: Review
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Rock, Music: Live Concerts, Music: Jam Band, Review
- Writer: Robert Burke
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Just the FACTS about the ABB
& Credit, where Credit is due:
1. Duane Allman, Dickie Betts & Berry Oakley (bass) were the "original" ABB guitar players.
2. Derek Trucks & Warren Haynes (both very fine guitar players) are not on stage with the ABB doing their own material. Both of them are ONLY copying the original licks and styles of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.
3. Neither Derek Trucks or Warren Haynes have ever written an ABB tune.
4. Dickey Betts wrote most of the ABB hits and for certain the most profitable ones. (Ramblin' Man made it to #2 on the Billboard Charts, their highest rated song to date.)
5. After the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley, were not for Dickey Betts, it is very likely the ABB would have disappeared into obscurity in the 70's.
6. You owe Dickey Betts a "real apology" for the "sorry Dickey" comment. (Bett's skills in musical composition & as a guitar player are so far beyond Trucks & Haynes, to even compare them to Betts is incomprehensible.)
*Suggestion: Before you write another critique, go in person and hear Dickey Betts & Great Southern. You will be amazed when you hear "the original".
o·rig·i·nal (-rj-nl)
adj.
1. Preceding all others in time; first.
2. a. Not derived from something else; fresh and unusual: an original play, not an adaptation.
b. Showing a marked departure from previous practice; new: a truly original approach. See Synonyms at new.
3. Productive of new things or new ideas; inventive: an original mind.
4. Being the source from which a copy, reproduction, or translation is made.
n.
1. A first form from which other forms are made or developed: Later models of the car retained many features of the original.
2. a. An authentic work of art: bought an original, not a print.
b. Work that has been composed firsthand: kept the original but sent a photocopy to his publisher.
3. A person who is appealingly odd or curious; a character.
4. Archaic The source from which something arises; an originator. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin orginlis, from org, orgin-, source; see origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Dickey Betts WAS good at one point in his career.
Now he's just a washed up, wife beating, asshole.
No apology from me.
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I just saw ABB last Sunday & Tuesday. Your review captured it exactly!