“Wow! The Black Crowes live! This will give me a chance to see what I missed about four years ago”, is what I thought to myself as I was handed Freak ‘N’ Roll Into The Fog. That’s right. I gave up my seat to a Black Crowes/Oasis concert, much to the dismay of my sister and brother-in-law, Rob. It’s a long story; I won’t go into it here. Since that day, every time a Crowes tune comes up I hear about it, especially from said sister and brother-in-law.
It was through Rob that I got my first introduction to The Black Crowes. It all started with him lending a teenaged Fantasma The Crowes' second album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, which included such rockers as “Sting Me” and “Remedy”. From there I was hooked, marking one more band he got me into and I do owe him a lot. He ranks right next to El Bicho himself, as far as getting me into new music and sounds, but that’s a tale for another time.
Freak ‘N’ Roll, filmed in late 2005 at San Francisco’s historic Fillmore Auditorium, finds the band – Mark Ford and Rich Robinson (guitars), brother Chris Robinson (vocals), Steve Gorman (drums), Eddie Hawrysch (keyboards) and Sven Pipien (bass) – in top form. The guitars are awesome and Chris’ vocals have lost nothing since the band’s first album, Shake Your Money Maker. All but four songs on this DVD are from the band's first four albums, which most fans consider to be their best body of work.
The concert moves well from beginning to end and is dotted with footage of the band wandering thought different parts of the city, including Chinatown and some backwoods areas; this footage is used mostly while the band jams and works well that way. As a bonus, there is some extra footage of the band in rehearsals and warming up before the show, which includes scenes of Chris’ wife, Kate Hudson, applying make-up to him and a few others and provides a good look at the playful side of The Crowes.
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