For the second time this year, Chris Robinson brought his “As The Crow Flies” project to Port Chester, NY’s Capitol Theatre. The current Chris Robinson Brotherhood frontman and former Black Crowes lead singer has talked limitedly about the nature and timing of this venture, and most of the ambition is about Brother Chris missing the feel of playing the Crowes catalog live. Unlike ATCF’s April show, the Marcus King Band opened on December 30th and this meant that King pulled double duty as opener and headliner, like his mentor Warren Haynes used to do. The band played a 10-song set which included covers by The Meters and Santana with “Soul Sacrifice” coming out as for the band debut and included both a guitar and horn solo.
As The Crow Flies opened their December 30th set with Traffic’s “Feeling Alright,” the first time they hadn’t begun a show with “Remedy.” Robinson, barefoot and covered in scarves, came out in great voice as the band had clearly evolved since their April debut and didn’t need any time to get cooking. The frontman grabbed the mic stand early on as if to signal that he was ready to throw down.
Robinson next introduced Amorica’s “Nonfiction” as a “true story about a bunch of shit that never happened.” The pairing of “Good Friday” and CSNY’S “Almost Cut My Hair” was once again a highlight that showcased the band’s two guitar attack. Audley Freed, who had the unenviable task of replacing Marc Ford in 1998 was this night’s MVP as his familiarity with the material and the intensity of his solos were evident all night long. Just as it took Derek Trucks time to break in with the Allman Brothers Band, wunderkind Marcus King is still learning his way around these songs. “Wiser Time” allowed him time to build a jam from the ashes of Adam McDougal’s keyboard solo. He whipped the crowd into a frenzy and even removed his trademark hat, but Freed countered with an even better and longer jam.
“Sometimes Salvation” was a nice addition to the set and led into the closing duo of “Jealous Again” and “Remedy,” which had been moved from its opening slot. The former song sounded great, although it was strange not to hear the middle guitar part that precedes “Don’t you think I want to, don’t you think I would…” Just as he has in every one of these shows, Robinson went right into the lyrics. It was almost as if it was easier to cut out all of his brother’s fingerprints from the song. A hit from the Crowes’ debut, it is already notable for including Rich Robinson singing multiple verses, so maybe be the only way to include it was to exorcize him from it. The band finished a strong show with a cover of Johnny Winter’s “Rock and Roll, Hootchie Koo.” By this time, Robinson was in a t-shirt and the scarves were long gone. It’s unclear if he will bring this outfit out again but it’s definitely been fun for those who have caught it live.
