By Saturday’s show at the Gramercy, The Magpie Salute had a couple of shows under their belt as an official band. Starting with a touching tribute to late keyboardist Eddie Harsch during Thursday’s “Descending,” the group kept its promise of trying to rekindle the magic between former Black Crowes members Sven Pipien, Marc Ford, and Rich Robinson. Ford was just in New York a month ago in support of his The Vulture album, but this was the first time he had played Crowes tunes to a big crowd since he abruptly left their reunion tour in 2006.
The Magpie Salute was born out of Robinson’s most recent Woodstock sessions, which last year featured Ford, Pipien and Harsch. After Harsch’s sudden passing, it was unclear how these shows would proceed, but it turned out that the performances just became that much more of a musical celebration.The green inflatable alien sitting on stage left reminded all that Eddie wasn’t very far away, but Matt Slocum of Robinson’s solo band did an admirable job.
The band wasted no time getting things started with “Black Moon Creeping” and it was clear from the get-go that Ford and Robinson still have unmistakable synergy. When these two play apart, their talents are on display for smaller audiences, but they also miss the magic of playing together. John Hogg, who sang vocals in Robinson’s first post-Crowes outfit, Hookah Brown, did a nice job of handling Chris Robinson’s vocals. The band had also kept its promise to dust of some obscure nuggets from the Crowes catalog. This became clear when after strong versions of “(Only) Halfway To Everywhere” and “One Mirror Too Many,” they went into “Title Song.” For a song that wasn’t officially released on a studio album, you’d never have known how rare this one was given how well they played it. “MARC FUCKING FORD” was screamed from the floor on every night of the run reportedly and this reviewer didn’t even need to do it once.
The next part of the show was dedicated to Robinson and Marc’s solo catalog as Robinson also has an excellent recent album, Flux. The songs sounded great with the full-band treatment, even though Robinson joked that the people in the front row could be a little more subtle when using their phones during these songs. But he said it with a sense of humor and was a far cry from many of the self-righteous rants his brother would launch into on an almost nightly basis during Crowes shows.
“Seeing Things” built beautifully and brought the music back to the Crowes vast legacy and next the band dusted off Led Zeppelin’s “Sick Again.” They covered the tune when they toured with Jimmy Page in 2000, but Audley Freed was the second guitarist back then. After a little more solo stuff, they performed The Band’s “Ain’t No Cane On The Brazos” which allowed each member to sing a verse. The Crowes’ “Lay It All On Me” and “Josephine” then followed. The familiar intro to “How Much For Your Wings?” was next which unfortunately featured Hogg stumbling over some of the vocals, but the jam was fantastic and more than compensated. But Robinson told the audience that the band had gone through its share of mistakes on this night, as opposed to the first two shows.
It was unclear what to expect from this band when these dates were announced.
The November passing of Harsch raised even more questions, but this was a triumphant stand. Both Ford and Robinson deserve to have their work featured in this context, plus they are giving a great gift to the fans by playing it again. With a London date just announced and the prospect of new music from this group, it seems The Magpie Salute won’t be a one-off project after all
8 Responses
This is all well and good for those on stage and in the audience. But for me, Chris was the soul of these songs. He sings with such passion, such purity and there’s something to be said for being the author and really “knowing” these BC songs. I miss him doing them. Can’t get used to him not being there. CRB is just not the same magic. *sigh*
I wasn’t at the show but watched many of the songs on YouTube. I was disappointed in the selection of Hogg as the singer. His mannerisms and the way he sung the Black Crowes songs seemed like he was attempting an impersonation of Chris. I was hoping that Rich and company would give some new interpretations to the older material. Instead, Magpie Salute seems like a Black Crowes cover band.
Robinson and Ford are way too talented to just be playing old TBC material in a CR-less and Gorman-less version of the Crowes. I am hoping that Magpie Salute goes into the studio as rumored and creates new material and is able to stand on their own. If Magpie Salute doesn’t go into the studio, I would prefer to see Rich just do his own material (I think Flux was excellent).
Gorman has his sports show and CR brings too much drama. This was also about the guitars. I agree that Marc and Rich are greatly talented, but the chemistry they bring together when playing these songs was what brought me the most joy. Yes, Paper and Flux are excellent albums
I was at the show on Sunday and was surprisingly impressed. I miss Chris very much (and continue to go to CRB shows) but thought John Hogg did a great job. I agree with everyone above about Mark and Rich. I would love to see The Black Crowes back together again, but I’ll take The Magpie Salute and hope to see them again this summer!!
No Chris Robinson, no Steve Gorman, no thanks. This is nothing more than a glorified cover band.
Listening to the 4-12 and 4-15 shows and I gotta say that the Youtube videos do not do John Hogg’s vocals justice. He pretty much nailed some very hard stuff and stayed more or less faithful to the soul of Chris’s live deliveries. Does he have Robinson’s power? Well, not quite but who does? He’s damned good and I’m fired up as Hell to see them at the Fonda in September. Also, I almost wept when I heard Marc F. Ford was going to be in the band. There’s something in that which brings peace to my heart.
The Magpie Salute is THE real deal. Those who sit and listen to CRB with an open and honest set of ears will realize that it’s just tepid jam band bullshit, but TMS? Rawk & roll, y’all.
Agree. Casal is no Ford but can play. However, CRB to me is a bunch of noodling. Good to see CR play Sometimes Salvation but it took him a while to actually put the swagger onstage.