The Allman Brothers Band

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OK, so last night was the night. My friend and I went to see the Allman Brothers Band (ABB) at the Beacon Theater. Previously, the only other time I was at the Beacon was for Dave Koz on Valentine’s Day. That show was awesome, but the acoustics were horrible. I suspected it was the sound guy, doing a terrible job at the sound board, and not the theater.

I was right 🙂

The acoustics for ABB were fantastic. As I described it to Lois (for those you of you read this post, you’ll recall that Lois went with my friend’s wife to see a different show last night), with the music wailing, one of the three drummers pulled out a tambourine, and when he tapped it (that’s right, not beat the hell out of it), you could hear the tiny symbols crystal clearly. We were sitting in the last row in the orchestra. Wow.

So, I truly enjoyed the show, and wasn’t disappointed at all. That said, two things to note on the negative side, even though they were minor in comparison with my overall enjoyment:

1. We had to stand for nearly 90% of the show. When everyone else stands, you stand, or you may as well be home listening to your CD’s. It’s not that I get tired (I’m in pretty good shape), but I just prefer to enjoy the show while seated. Oh well, the energy level was good enough to carry me through (on stage, and in the crowd as well!).
2. By any measure, ABB is noted primarily for the dueling lead guitars. The two guys currently fulfilling that role are no slouches (Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks), in fact, they are obviously talented. That said, they aren’t even remotely close to Duane Allman (deceased in 1971) and Dickie Betts (still playing, but no longer with ABB). I never saw Duane play, but I have seen Dickey live. Live at the Filmore East is one of my favorite albums, so I also know how Duane played.

They opened with a famous song, and I realized the difference in the guitarists right away. But, song number 2 was Statesboro Blues (one of their best), and in that one, the difference was stunning. Still, the song was fantastic, and their riffs outstanding, just not perfect. 😉

Aside from the guitars, the other thing that I always credit ABB with is a driving percussion section. They are one of the few bands with 3 full-time drummers. They are awesome, and I found myself concentrating on them a lot during the evening. They also had 2 guest drummers sit in on a few songs. On one of them, it was 4 drummers playing alone on stage, and it was mesmerizing!

Finally, the base player (Oteil Burbridge) was amazing.

All-in-all, a really fun night, that will be long remembered.