With the Allman Brothers Band 2012 Beacon Run set to kick off on Friday, we wanted to re-publish Chad Berndtson’s thought-provoking preview about what he’d like to see from the legendary band.
Dear Allman Brothers Band,
You’re old, and you’re aging well. I continue to shell out for the Beacon because your surprises and your sense of adventure can still blow past even a seen-it-all concertgoer’s most optimistic hopes — when you feel like it.
Some of the Beacon and United Palace shows I saw between 2001 and 2011 are in my Top 30 all-time nights out. Others, I feel like I overpaid — really overpaid in some cases. So here’s to keeping things interesting and renewing ABB Nation’s faith that your March shows are the one of the most reliable investments in live music — with a few gentle suggestions from a longtime and wholly devoted fan fully prepared to get ripped apart by other Nation members disagreeing with all ten.
If you’re expecting another “Ask Dickey to sit-in” request, that’s not what we’re about here. Assume that we love you already, that we will practice tough love based on how much money you charge for these shows and how good we know you really can be, and that we’re always up for some new flavors of fun.
1. Play another new original — even if it’s a sketch.
There’s been a whole lot of “definitely, maybe” talk about a new Allman Brothers Band album for years now, and we have seen snatches of new material here and there, though apart from Bag End, the vast majority of your first time plays are either new covers or songs familiar to side projects like the Warren Haynes Band or Tedeschi Trucks Band. I find it hard to believe that the current Allmans lineup doesn’t have at least something else kicking around, even in rough sketch form. What better place to workshop it than in front of ravenous Beacon fans that would know immediately — and appreciate immediately — that it’s a new original?
2. Make the guests come to you.
I did five shows during the 2009 Beacon run, and while the 3/28/09 event brought things to a suitable close, it came thisclose to total deflation thanks to the beginning of the second set. It was time for fireworks — second set of the last show of a justifiably legendary run! — and instead came nearly a full hour of plodding jams on Grateful Dead songs. I love Grateful Dead music, love Phil and Bobby, and love any time these two oh-so-influential worlds blend together, but this was the wrong choice at the wrong time. Why not push Phil and Bobby to play Allmans music? Why not an intra-band mega-throwdown on Mountain Jam (which, ironically, was played nearly half hour later, without Bob and Phil)? Seemed like a missed opportunity to these ears.
You integrate guests better than most groups, but you too often slide into a comfortable backing band role for that guest’s songs or toss out a failsafe popular song everyone knows. Makes sense – you don’t want to run the risk of a totally trainwreck sit-in – but push the envelope with the guests, guys. It’s perhaps no surprise that some of the most successful sit-ins from the 2011 run — John Scofield, Randy Brecker, Oz Noy and especially, Bill Evans — came from jazz-centric players comfortable with adapting to various types of ensembles and adding to them. It’d be fun to see even more of that if you’re going to continue to make these shows so guest-heavy.
3. Vary the sit-in songs.
I welcome any opportunity to hear the Asbury Jukes horn section — or any up-to-the-task horn section — with the Brothers at the Beacon. That said, if I see the mics set up on stage for the horns, I can call out five likely horns songs and be right about at least three of them, no? That’s just one example. I understand that Southbound and One Way Out are classic sit-in vehicles because they’re relatively easy to play and hinge on easily digestible, pass-the-baton style solos. But here’s hoping you shake things up a little more and keep the sit-in songs a little less predictable. During the underrated 2010 United Palace run, for example, there were sax sit-ins on both Jessica and Whipping Post on different nights. Try a lot of new things with these hotshot players. That’s why we come to see you at the Beacon: because you’re reliable, but also because these are the shows to see you at your most adventurous.
4. Cover inventively.
It’s a matter of taste and personal preference; one man’s “wow” cover is another’s “why bother.” You’ve proven in recent years that you can definitely pick cool covers, but you sometimes come dangerously close to being a classic rock jukebox. Here’s hoping for a tighter focus on selecting songs that’ll really make sense. It’s hard to pin down exactly why, but I can’t be the only Allmans fan who instinctually likes what the band has accomplished with Blind Willie McTell and Ain’t No Love In the Heart of the City, and also knows right away that I don’t need snooze-paced Allman Brothers versions of Shakedown Street and All Along the Watchtower.
5. Keep the jazz fusion coming.
You’ve always had a jazz element — it’s part of what made you an original way back when — and the current version of the band has the most pronounced jazz proclivity of any lineup. Well hey, fellas, keep scratching that itch. Your recent workouts on selections like Afro Blue, In a Silent Way and Spanish Key have been really interesting — not exactly Midnight Rider-accessible to a casual ABB fan, but for the diehards, in particular, a chance to hear you do something really different, and shake up the pacing and structure of setlists as a result. I say awesome, and also, more, please.
PAGE TWO = Instrumental Illness, Small Groups, Bustouts and More
6. Play Instrumental Illness
It’s been nine years since your last proper studio album, Hittin the Note. Most of that meaty disc’s 11 tracks remain ABB concert staples — Desdemona is the arguable classic, up there with your greatest originals — but what the hell happened to Instrumental Illness? For about five years, the song was a regular — an almost-nightly break out — and it yielded some seriously potent jams. Then, it vanished. Its last full airing, according to the ABB setlist database, was 3/27/07, and it hasn’t been in regular rotation since at least 2006. Newer instrumentals like Egypt and Bag End can anchor a set, but both sound a little familiar: loosely defined melodic heads that give way to Liz Reed or Whipping Post-style jams with too little sonic variation. Illness, on the other hand, comes from the Kind of Bird school of Allman Brothers instrumentals: a sturdy composition with lots of room for exploration that sounds like nothing else in the Allmans catalog. Time for some more Illness.
7. More solo spots or small group combos.
Some folks think breaking out small combinations of Derek and Warren, or Warren and Gregg, or Gregg alone, or the drum corps for their usual throwdown distracts from the energy of the overall show — the more time the full band is onstage, they argue, the better. I understand that school of thought, but the variety those sub-combos can offer adds a nice touch of surprise, especially later in a show.
During the 2005 Beacon run, second sets began with three of four songs’ worth of that format, usually a Gregg solo spot or two, followed by a Warren-and-Derek duo blues. It was a nice variant — and offered a chance to hear some rarely-played songs from the repertoire– even if it did eat up valuable second-set setlist clock.
8. Open up in unexpected places.
In recent years, some of the best ABB innovation hasn’t come from new songs or new covers but rather from new ideas inside of songs fans already know well. The galloping Other One jam that erupts out of Black Hearted Woman and clears all the cobwebs out of the room when the song should logically end? Totally thrilling, and these days, a guaranteed crowd-slayer. That starry-eyed, psychedelic jam that Rocking Horse turns into? Very cool — it adds an exploratory element for a song that for years was a fairly unremarkable placeholder. Even Whipping Post has seen a few new kicks; Warren seems to like beginning his solo portion in a different, more upbeat key before dropping into the song’s traditionally dark waters just as the guitar storm is starting to rage.
In 2011, you did it again: a surprise encore version of Into the Mystic on 3/25/11 that didn’t end short and sweet but pushed into jam territory and wrung a lot of beauty from just a little extra exploration. Here’s hoping for more of that surprise expansion and deviation from “the norm” this year.
9. Dig deep in the catalog.
Once in a long while, you’ll dig out a deep-catalog chestnut or a cover associated with an earlier era of the band or one of its members — something that doesn’t feel like merely a guest accommodation. Want to light a fire under your most jaded fans? Hurtle into something like the 31st of February version of Morning Dew, maybe, or a forgotten early ’90s gem like Get On With Your Life or Loaded Dice. And hey, it’s been since 2001 that we heard the ace instrumental High Falls, and yeah it’s a Dickey song, but that didn’t stop you from making Jessica a setlist staple again.
10. Go easy on the graphics.
Totally understand that the visual projections are a long-running part of an Allman Brothers show, and the exploding mushrooms definitely float my boat. I can do without creepily superimposing images of dead band members over current band members, however, and also the weird, greasy, psychedelic stripper action during songs like Black Hearted Woman. Personal preferences again, guys, but I don’t think I’m alone.
Regarding the vintage blues black-and-white videos, I go back and forth. They’re great at set break; I’ll take all the Muddy you have while I wait for round two. They’re less great during the show; for some years, you were playing a Big Mama Thornton segment during Statesboro Blues that added something really fun to watch but arguably distracted from what the band was playing.
All in all, boys, thanks for everything you’ve given and continue to give us.
– CB
The Allman Brothers Band’s Beacon Run starts on Friday, March 9 and runs through Sunday, March 25 in New York City.
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