Warren Haynes whom I have seen with Gov't Mule, Allman Bros., The Dead and Dave Matthews is always a pleasure to listen to. This time out Warren is flying with a little bit different type of band. This band is more geared for Rhythm and Blues. You have Ron Holloway on Sax, Ron Johnson On Bass, Terrance Higgins on Drums, a keyboard player who's name I did not catch and Alicia Shakur on heavenly vocals. And, of course, Warren Haynes on lead guitar and vocals.
Warren seems very relaxed with allowing the other musicians to take the front and center and show the crowd what they can do with their respective instruments. There are times through out the night when he matches licks with the sax player, keyboard player and bass player. Vocally Warren harmonizes with Ms. Shakur and the keyboard player very nicely. Warren also lets Ms. Shakur show off what her powerful set of pipes can do too.
The first five songs are off of the new album "Man In Motion", which is a risky move because you could lose the crowd, but they didn't, the new material was very well received. Funky and bluesy in a R&B fashion. Just superb. "Sick Of My Shadow", "Rivers Gonna Rise", "Man In Motion", "A Friend To You" and "On A Real Lonely Night". During "A Friend To You" Warren breaks a string but being the professional that he is he doesn't even stop, he just keeps playing. Farmer, Warren's guitar tech, finally gets a new guitar out on stage and seamlessly trades guitars and the band just keeps playing. Even though the new album has just come out most people new the words and were familiar with the music.
Then Warren and the Band go way back to pull two songs off of Warren Haynes first solo album "Tales of Ordinary Madness", "Fire In the Kitchen" and "Invisible". The band is smoking. The first set has the crowd rocking.
After the break Warren comes out solo and acoustic for "Real Thing". "Patchwork Quilt", one of my favorites, is played with Warren and Ron Johnson. Warren does a very nice job on John Lennon's "Working Class Hero". Warrren proves he can play slide with the best of them when he plays Elmore James' "Rollin and a Tumblin" with Mr. Higgins on drums.
The full band comes back out and they produce some great harmonies on "Change is Gonna Come". The crowd loves "What Is Hip" the old Tower Of Power song. There is an older woman back stage that is just dancing up a storm. "Hattiesburg Hustle" is off of the new album and a rocker to boot. "Tear Me Down" off of Gov't Mule's "Deep End" album finishes out the second set.
The encore is a killer version of "Soulshine". You had to be there. The vocals, the Sax, the Keyboards and Warren on guitar. WOW!
This is a five twirl show. If you weren't there, let me tell you, you should have paid the thirty dollars to see this. Excellent. I bought a ticket out side the venue for $25. best $25 I have spent in a long time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment