Allman Brothers Band Beacon Theatre 3-1-13  E-mail this product to a friend Tweet

Wow - they started with a bang!  This was one of the best Allman Brothers Band shows we have seen since the 2009 40th Anniversary Tour! Certainly, the best Beacon opener (other than 2009) in quite a while. Considering that this is the first concert of the run, they have set the bar high, and you just know the music is going to climb to even higher heights from here on in!

Butch had this to say about their 2013 debut:

"Damn. What an opening night. Might be one of our best sets ever. I am very sore today from laying with that much power. Gregg was as spot on as he's been in decades actually pushing us on some of the tunes he use to have trouble with. Life is great and the Beacon seems to be one major hot spot!"

The first set showed the band could bring it like a band in their prime.  It featured some very strong classics (including the first Les Bres sandwhich?), played exceptionally well.  After laying down a solid foundation of what made them famous, they went out on a limb in the second set and proved they were still capable of experimenting and growing as a group of artists - in ways which would continue to delight us over the course of the run.

Gregg started it off with a soulful version of the Beatles "Rain."  Evidently a full band arrangement taken from the stripped down demo version on the Dreams Box Set.  Warren broke out the first of two new originals, "Dusk till Dawn" that absolutely captured everyones attention. A beautifully dark, moody composition with a Desdemona-like time change that has quickly become our favorite here at HTN.  The band then stunned the audience with a mind melding "Mtn Jam/Hendrix - 1983 (A merman I Should Turn To Be)" combination that closed out the second set.

Here are some quotes about it from the ABB Forums:

     Marley - "1983 has always been one of my favorite Hendrix songs and it never occurred to me as the type of thing the Allmans might try, but it was remarkable and I loved the segues into and out of Mountain Jam (with a more-prominent-than-usual Third Stone tease). It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" choices - it's long and jammy with a memorable guitar hook…Warren sang most of it with a lot of reverb on his vocals, and Oteil took the "so my darling and I make love on the sand" section. This was 25 minutes of the most unexpected, psychedelic stuff I've ever heard from the band."

   BrerRabbit - "some folks are saying there has been some 1983 in Mtn jam all along. Berry and Butch do a little foray into 1983 (the spacy bass and drum bit) at around 21 minutes on Eat a Peach, just before Duane rips into Third Stone from the Sun.  This new thing is a followup to something that was there since the original , fleshing out the sketch..."

Below is the set list of the ABB Live CD show you can order.  Soundboard audio mixed with live audience mics.

DISC ONE
Les Brers in A Minor  (Extended Intro)  3:01
Don’t Want You No More  2:38
It’s Not My Cross To Bear  5:01
Statesboro Blues  5:13
Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More  7:17
Good Morning Little School Girl  10:32
Midnight Rider  3:40
Blind Willie McTell  7:33
Leave My Blues At Home  6:40
Les Brers in A Minor  8:45

DISC TWO
Rain  5:09
Trouble No More  3:47
Dusk Till Dawn  9:11
No One To Run With  10:05
Key to the Highway  5:31
Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’  4:09

DISC THREE
1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) ->  6:06
Mountain Jam ->  10:57
1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) ->  2:38
Mountain Jam Reprise  2:38
One Way Out  6:10