An Evening with The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes Return To Atlanta for Hometown Show
10/06/08
The Black Crowes played to a hometown crowd last night in Atlanta's Verizon Ampitheater. It was 70 degrees on a clear, pleasant evening...rock and roll electricity purified the air. Phil Lesh and Friends opened for the Crowes which allowed for a nice mix of rock and roll fans...criss-crossing generations of Grateful Dead fans, Crowes fans and the common music lovers.
The sound was remarkable. Phil and Friends played a variety of Dead songs. Bob Dylan's old guitarist Larry Campbell served as Lesh's lead guitarist. Campbell, whose wife is an Atlanta native, served as Levon Helm's right hand man on the critically acclaimed CD Dirt Farmer. Chris Robinson came out onstage with Phil to play guitar and sing on the classic Dead tune "Sugaree".
Last night served as the first show of the winter leg of the Crowes tour. They played a good bit of their new album Warpaint. The band's versatility always remains their strength. One moment they can play a country tune, the next a stone-cold blues ditty, outward jazzy territories and of course their high-grade blend of rock and roll.They also played Dylan's "The Mighty Quinn", Gene Clark's "Polly", Howlin' Wolf's "Forty-Four Blues" and as an encore they rendered a moving version of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"...the whole place was singing. Chris was talkative. He thanked the crowd between songs, and even joked about it was good to see everybody...unless they were Alabama football fans. The Verizon soundsystem proved excellent. Luther Dickinson invited Robin and I to the Crowes aftershow party where I gave Luther the Dust-to-Digital boxset of Fonotone Records. Luther said they dug the boxset I gave him, Goodbye Babylon, on the tourbus.
Luther led us into the large area set up with remnants of catering. I poured some coffee and hung out with Andy and Luther for a bit. Rich, Steve and Sven walked around talking to folks as they prepared to get on the bus and drive to Virginia. Chris was nowhere around. I wanted to ask him if he read the Cormac McCarthy book, Suttree, I gave him in Chattanooga. Luther filled me in on his father Jim's latest endeavor, which includes writing a book. "He let me read some of it last week," Luther told me.
Not many photo opportunities presented themselves last night, but the one's I'll took I will use at another point. More on all this later. The Crowes saga is not over for me...these next couple of months will prove very interesting in the band's history, and the story continues to unfold. I'll tell their indelible story a little further down the road. Until then...I raise my glass and bow my head with the utmost respect to those dirty birds...
James Calemine