Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Allman Brothers Band United Palace Theatre New York 15 March 2010
10:28 After a day off it's time to turn the thoughts to today's ABB show. Great as the last two shows have been, I've got to say that the day off was rather handy.
John Curatolo remarked it must be strange seeing these shows in day time, which I guess it is (not that I've had the chance to experience them directly any other way) but when the three and a half hour chunk comes right in the middle of the day it tends to get in the way of other regularly scheduled parts of your routine.
So, in other words, yesterday I had the chance to devote some attention to things I'd been neglecting and today it's back to gearing up for the fourth show in the run.
As part of that, with the set lists from the first three shows in hand I took a look for likely suspects that hadn't been played so far.
What did I come up with? Discounting something like Ramblin' Man which could still turn up as an instrumental (a la Blue Sky the other night) and placing things in alphabetical order:
End Of The Line
Franklin's Tower
Gambler's Roll
Good Clean Fun
High Cost Of Low Living
Instrumental Illness
I've Been Loving You Too Long
Layla
Les Brers In A Minor
Maydell
Old Before My Time
Please Call Home
The Same Thing
Soulshine
Stormy Monday
Wasted Words
The Weight
Worried Down With The Blues
You could get a good show and a half out of that lot without adding anything that's already been done by adding in a few tracks associated with whatever guests turn up on the day.
So we'll see...
I'm determined to get to the start of the show in a relaxed fashion, none of the restless pacing, scanning of the horizon for visitors, al those things that've got me keyed up for the other shows. Turns out, of course, that I should've been a bit less laid back, but that's being wise after the event.
10:49 Log in to be greeted by the sight of Warren tearing it up as he monsters the end of his solo on something or other. That merges into a nice Derek instrumental passage that then morphs back into Rockin' Horse. I'm presuming this comes from the first show in the run if Derek wore a Junior Wells T-shirt for the second set back then. I've got the set lists for the first three shows at my elbow, so it's easy to check.
11:00 Hang on, can't be. Next number is Gambler's Roll. Should've been Black Hearted Woman if the previous assumption was correct. Hurry into the office to check the Billy Hollems 2009 data on the desktop machine. Maybe they're replaying the 14 March show from last year in the lead-up to tonight's show.
11:05 Uh-oh. Cut outs. The audio goes, the video disappears. Well they could be getting ready to switch to the lead-up to the live feed. No, back again. Hopefully a momentary glitch rather than a sign of things to come. Settle down to wait for the show to start with the cryptic crossword from this week's The Week to prevent the keyed up restless pacing. In hindsight, how little we suspect.
11:10 My mate Grigor Taylor (readers unfamiliar with Australian cop shows might care to Google that name) turns up on the doorstep, returning a pile of books he's borrowed, and will be leaving with a pile of reading matter that I've finished with. A visit from Grigor always produces an interesting and wide-ranging conversation, so I drop the volume on the TV. Got a good ten minutes till the show starts, and Grig'll be highly impressed by the quality of the live feed.
11:27 Momentary glitch is the feed. Ask self, Is this live? Should have changed into get ready for tonight mode by now.
11:32 Do they have daylight saving in the States? Madam affirms that they do, and that one of her blogging friends had remarked on the switch yesterday.
Bugger. Not only have I missed the start of the show, for the past forty-something minutes I've paid scant attention to proceedings on the assumption that I'm watching a replay.
11:34 Statesboro Blues
11:39 Intermission. Continue conversation. Grigor says he'll be off, but I point out the intermission usually lasts about half an hour, so there's no need to hurry. We're on an interesting discussion about the prospect of the local mayor running for Parliament at the next Federal Election when...
12;09 Melissa starts. See you later, mate.
12:16 Gregg: Thanks for coming all this way uptown. Next year I think there's gonna come a change... Good to hear the prospects of next year being touted, also good to hear...
12:17 Good Clean Fun.
12:22 Black Hearted Woman
12:31 Hell, this is a monstrous The Other One play out...
12:35 Derek slide intro to The Weight. This is great!
12:46 Longer than you'd expect pause between numbers with darkened stage. A guest on the way? No, Every Hungry Woman.
12:49 Derek/Warren interplay. Under normal circumstances by this point I should be reduced to a quivering dribbling wreck by some of the best jamming interaction I can recall, not that I've seen all that much. This is an awesome band at the very best of their game. Unfortunately the bus left early and I didn't quite manage to get on.
12:56 Jessica
1:08 > Will The Circle Be Unbroken
1:10 > Oteil
1:13 > Drums. Marc seemingly on his own at first. Butch is headed for the tympani as Oteil climbs into the chair behind Butch's kit. Jaimoe there? Yeah, over there right where he should be.
1:19 Butch switches back
1:21 Derek and the rest of 'em 're back as they ease back into the Jessica theme.
1:27 This is a Jessica for the ages.
1:28 Encore break.
1:31 You Don't Love Me.
1:38 Thank you so much. Goodnight and God bless you. Thanks for coming. Little Martha, with the sound cut almost immediately.
Rest assured I'll be ready, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed restlessly pacing the floor at ten rather than eleven tomorrow. So what did I miss in the first set?
Set list:
1st set:
Hot ‘Lanta
Can’t Lose What You Never Had
Trouble No More
Come and Go Blues
Rocking Horse > Gambler’s Roll
Only You Know And I Know
Kind of Bird
Statesboro Blues
2nd set:
Melissa
Good Clean Fun
Black Hearted Woman
The Weight
Every Hungry Woman
Jessica >Will The Circle Be Unbroken > bass > drums > Jessica
Encore:
You Don’t Love Me
