Review: The Allman Brothers Band, ‘Final Concert 10-28-14’ – A Fitting Farewell

Well it took 10 years for them to release it, but the Allman Brothers Band finally released their final concert, from October 28, 2014 at the Beacon Theater as a triple disc live album and man, am I glad they did. When I say triple disc, I’m talking CDs, not vinyl, so this thing clocks in at over 3 and 1/2 hours of music. This was an iconic American band and they went out with a bang… or should I say, they went out with a jam. If you think about their long history, roughly 45 years in the making, is there a band that boasts a better roster of guitar players? Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks are all legendary six string wizards and they all at one time played in this storied band.

The Allmans formed in 1969 after Duane Allman had left he and Gregg’s band Hourglass and moved from L.A. back to Jacksonville, Florida. Duane first recruited drummer Jaimoe when they were both playing sessions at FAME Studios. He added Barry Oakley on bass then he added Butch Trucks as second drummer and the late great Dickey Betts as second guitarist. But Duane felt they needed Gregg to come in on vocals. At their first rehearsal, Gregg was intimidated by the caliber of the musicians in his brother’s new band until Duane handed him the lyric sheet for “Trouble No More,” the classic Muddy Waters song, and Gregg sang it “with feeling.” Was there ever a vocalist that young who could sound that world weary? Maybe me at that age if I could only sing…? The lineup clicked.

That lineup recorded some of the greatest rock n roll I’ve ever heard. Their first two studio albums with Duane are essential listening as far as I’m concerned. Their third album, the seminal Live At The Fillmore East, was the album that broke them big. They were classic bluesmen who played with a jazz ethos. They could take a song like “Whipping Post” and play it for 23 minutes. But alas before they could fully realize and enjoy their hard earned success Duane died in a motorcycle accident. Then, after releasing a hybrid album – half live, half studio – Eat A Peach, bassist Barry Oakley also died in another motorcycle accident mere blocks away from where Duane had passed. It was difficult losing their spiritual leader in Duane, and Dickey started to assume more of a “front man” role with Gregg stuck behind an organ which only pissed Gregg off…his last name was on the marquee after all. While recording Brothers And Sisters he was taking off to do his solo debut Laid Back.

Drugs, booze and infighting finally did the band in. They disappeared in roughly 1981 and were gone for almost an entire decade. Gregg did a few up and down solo albums. It was Dickey Betts who pulled them back together with Warren Haynes on second guitar and Alan Woody on bass. To everyone’s surprise Seven Turns in 1990 was a hit, at least with rock n roll fans like me. “Good Clean Fun” was exactly that, good, clean fun. That led to a string of great records: Shades of Two Worlds in 1991 and Where It All Begins in 1994. That was the tour I finally got to see these guys on. I was late on the Allman’s bandwagon and only started listening to them during my exile in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. You live in the south you gotta have some Allmans in the record stack. It had been 7 years of listening to them before I got to catch them live in 1994 and it was an exceptional show. They were always so good in concert.

They basically toured heavily after Where It All Begins. Old disagreements between Gregg (who eventually got sober) and an erratic Dickey Betts led to Betts being fired by fax. It’s like breaking up by text these days, I suppose. Dickey was drinking, drugging and picking fights with cops… a few domestic disturbance calls as well. In retrospect, I think the Allmans asked him to go to rehab before firing him and he wouldn’t do it, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when that fax rolled out of the machine and dropped on Dickey’s floor, next to the empty whiskey bottle.

Dickey had been the creative workhorse, but I was delighted when the Allmans – who had recruited Derek Trucks, Butch’s nephew to replace Dickey… Warren started playing the Dickey parts and Derek who is more naturally a slide player took over the Duane parts – went back into the studio and recorded the great Hittin’ The Note in 2003, their first recording without Betts. Along the way they’d lost bassist Alan Woody and replaced him as well with Oteil Burbridge. That lineup, Gregg, Butch, Jaimoe, Warren, Derek, Oteil and percussionist Mark Quinones is the lineup that plays here on this, their farewell show.

I’ll admit, you’re never going to top Live At The Fillmore East, and the Allmans have released so many live shows from their classic lineup, it’s hard to sort through them all, but this is a great live album. If you’re a fan of the Allmans or of guitar jams in general, this album is for you. They open with “Little Martha” and then segue into a bit of “Mountain Jam,” a song that was originally over 30 minutes and split between two vinyl album sides. They keep coming back and playing snippets of “Mountain Jam” throughout the show which I found kinda cool. After “Mountain Jam,” they break into the first song on their first album, “Don’t Want You No More,” another instrumental. You’re 8 minutes in before anybody sings a note.

They jam a spirited version of “One Way Out” from Eat A Peach, and then (I think) Haynes comes to the mic for an extended jam on “Good Morning Little School Girl,” made famous by Muddy. “Midnight Rider” is up next, and it’s always a personal favorite in whatever incarnation it takes. They do play “High Cost Of Low Living” from their last studio album and if I have any complaints, its that “Low Cost” is the only track they play from the 1990 to 2003 period. I’d have liked to hear “Soulshine” or “Nobody Left To Run With” but it’s probably a nit. This was a celebration of their storied history and if they wanted to focus on material from the 70s, there’s really nothing to bitch about.

Everything I’ve mentioned above is only from the first disc!! We get some great classics like “Statesboro Blues,” an epic “Dreams” and “Black Hearted Woman” on disc 2. They do a great version of “The Sky Is Crying.” I was surprised by how much Warren got to take the vocals but I just prefer Gregg at the microphone but again, no complaints.. While Dickey declined the invitation to come play at this final show, they do play his “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and it cooks, baby. It’s complete with a drum solo, “JaMaBuBu” which I suspect is an odd combination of each percussionists first names and then rolls back into “In Memory.” Jamming ensues!

Disc 3 continues to impress with the ballad “Melissa,” and a wonderful reading of “Revival” from Idlewild South. “Southbound” gives us a good ol’ boogie. They even veer briefly into Gregg’s early solo stuff with “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.” The encore is a rocking “Whipping Post” which they stretch to over 16 minutes. There is a nice moment when Jaimoe, Butch and Gregg give a farewell message. Jaimoe talks about how he wanted to be a star jazz drummer but then met Duane. Gregg recounts the story of that first rehearsal and singing “Trouble No More” to get into the band…and of course, the band brings it full circle by playing that exact tune as the end to it all. With that great Muddy song ringing in our ears, the Allmans walked off stage and into the ether…

Oh, to have been at the Beacon on this historic night ten years back and hear all of these guitar notes being spilled like pennies from a broken jar. The Allman Brothers Band turned the venerable Beacon Theater in New York into a southern, juke joint, road house and it is phenomenal. Reminds me of what Stevie Ray Vaughan did at Carnegie Hall…  I know there a lot of jam bands out there, but there will never be one as muscular and bluesy as the Allman Brothers Band.

It’s just wonderful, a decade on, after the loss of Dickey, Gregg and Butch Trucks, to have this wonderful document from their farewell. I wish Dickey could have put the animosity aside and showed up but what’s done is done. We love our live albums around here and this one is gonna stay in high rotation. I might pour myself a sour mash and hold a lighter over my head… don’t tell the Rock Chick I have lighter… I use it on the BBQ grill…

“Someday baby, you ain’t gonna trouble, Poor me, anymore…” Cheers!