Style: classic rock, blues-rock
Label: Epic
Year: 1992
Home: Georgia
Concert location: Great Woods, Boston, Massachusetts
Year Recorded: 1991
Length: 90 minutes
Bonus Features: none
Members: Gregg Allman ~ keyboards/acoustic guitar/lead vocals
Dickey Betts ~ guitar/b. vocals
Butch Trucks, Jaimoe ~ drums/percussion
Marc Quiñones – drums/percussion/b. vocals
Warren Haynes ~ guitar/lead vocals
Allen Woody ~ bass/b. vocals
Guests: Robbie Robertson ~ host
When we talk about the white boy blues & blues-rock bands of the past that brought the blues to the mainstream, some have stuck more to the blues & others have blurred the lines between what it means to play the blues, while others have just gone rockin' without looking back. Eric Clapton has played the hardcore drooling blues more often than not, or at least it feels that way even when he's at his most Kenny G, the Rolling Stones have forgotten the blues though at one point that's all they did, while Jimmy Page took the blues firmly by the rock horns or gave it rock horns yet without losing sight of where he came from. The ABB might be a leader in the category of blurring the line the between blues-rock without going in either direction as far as Page or Clapton, but yet not totally at home with blues purists & certainly you won't find them in the blues section of the music store ... if you can even find a music store to verify this. If there's a white boy blues band out there that's continuously had success without too much musical variance & continuously shown why they're leaders in their field, even with regular membership changes, it's the ABB. Let alone, they're both a great band & the home to some great individuals, particularly the late slide king Duane Allman but more recently two thirds of third generation blues rockers Gov't Mule. But, we shouldn't pinpoint the individuals to the detriment of the whole. The duel drumming Grateful Dead feel is as necessary to the musical landscape as any of Dickey Betts solos ... & anyone who said that someone over 30 can't rock need only watch Betts soar in another land with more gusto than guys half his age, including bandmate Warren Haynes. This hour long concert was part of the ABB's tour for their second comeback album Shades Of Two Worlds & originally was filmed so a couple songs could get on Japanese television. The band decided to release the entire filmed concert. The late Duane Allman might be the eternal face of the band for many, but as I've previously written in this blog, don't give up on the ABB because he's gone. He was not the only thing about the ABB to pay attention to & I often get tired of the fact that it often seems that way to the detriment of a lot of other great players, including his own brother who still plus away behind the often uncool organ. This is about as blues as blues-rock can get without going into the deep end ... actually, it does go into the deep end as the band let their solos carry them away. But, while blues solos often soar leaving the band behind or become show-off-ish, there's none of that pretentiousness here as this is firmly a band moment & not a soloist's gig. Never once does one tire of a solo that's gone on too long or showed off too much. There's also a decent mix of classic standard blues (for example, "Hoochie Coochie Man"), classic ABB songs (for example, "Statesboro Blues") & two contemporary songs that fit perfectly into the mix ("End Of The Line" & "Get On With Your Life"). For those thinking the ABB is nothing without Duane or not a valid entity beyond the nostalgia circuit this video, though it might not be the definite choice for some fans due to its lack of liner notes, the music fully speaks for itself about how great these guys continue to be. The band turns in a blistering set with top-notch performances that any band would have a hard time beating. Of course, today, every blues-rock band sounds like the ABB ... or maybe they now sound like every blues-rock band ... but once-upon a time they were 'the' blues-rock band & considering only three of the faces onstage are not original members one will see what being 'the' blues-band means after only a song or two. The rest of the show is just constant verification. They're as gritty & inventive as ever & even feature full-on acoustic renditions, even with Gregg Allman is on guitar, of "Blue Sky" & "Going Down The Road". The band has gone through a plethora of membership changes, but this post-reunion line-up is a particularly vibrant movement in their long life making this video stand out from the crowd in some ways. No bonus features except for the option of having the lyrics appear, which few will probably require. Included periodically throughout the show is interviews with Betts, Allman & Haynes discussing the writing of some of the songs & their influences. The only problem is the interviews come during solos in the songs.
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