Gig Review: Allman Brothers Wow Crowd With Strong Second Set
On Wednesday, November 30, the Allman Brothers Band played their second of four shows at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre. From the moment that Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks began trading guitar solos on the first tune, it was a show to remember.
For those not familiar with the Allman Brothers history, after the death of Duane Allman and the band’s eventual dissolution in 1976, they reunited in 1987 adding current guitarist Warren Haynes. In 1999, guitar prodigy Derek Trucks would join the band. To say that Trucks is a rising star at 32 years of age is an understatement. Indeed, Trucks is already one of the greatest rock guitar players of the modern era. Trucks is an expert at the old-school southern blues rock style that has made the Allman Brothers so famous, but Trucks is more than that. Heavily influenced by Eric Clapton and jazz musicians like Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter, Trucks adds a unique flavor to the band: a sense of history, his own youth, and a wide variety of unique influences that are woven together to create a new sound never heard before for the Allman Brothers Band.
While the roots of the Allman Brothers remain the same as they always have been, the addition of Trucks, as well as the addition of Latin/salsa percussionist Marc Quiñones creates a different, more sophisticated sound, with allusions to Latin music, jazz and European Blues. While the combination of two drummers and a percussionist causes the rhythms to be a little bit too busy at times, occasionally distracting the listener from other instruments, at other times it adds a magical effect that had not previously been seen with the band.
The only negative in this particular performance was the sound early on. During the first set, Gregg Allman’s vocals simply didn’t cut through the mix, and it was nearly impossible to hear his B3. However, most of the sound problems were corrected in a spirited second set that will set this concert aside as one to remember for a long time for those in attendance.
Review by Nik Rodewald
*Photo Credit – Liz Lohnes
