The Allman Brothers Band: 2014-03-07 Live at Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, March 07, 2014

1. Old Friend (5:46)
2. No One To Run With (6:54)
3. Stage banter 1 (0:22)
4. Trouble No More (3:31)
5. Stage banter 2 (0:27)
6. Leave My Blues At Home (5:52)
7. Worried Down With The Blues (7:29)
8. True Gravity (9:44)
9. Stage banter 3 (0:32)
10. Midnight Rider (3:21)
11. You Don't Love Me (6:47)
12. Dusk Till Dawn (10:10)
13. Ain't Wastin' Time No More (7:49)


1. Melissa (5:29)
2. I Walk On Gilded Splinters (6:03)
3. Stage banter 4 (0:10)
4. Dreams (11:07)
5. In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed (17:20)


1. The Sky Is Crying (9:23)
2. Revival (9:59)
3. Crowd noise (4:49)
4. Whipping Post (13:22)


It was the first show of the last Beacon run, and so excitement was running high, but emotions were mixed, bittersweet, and everything seemed fraught with meaning. So when Derek and Warren opened the show alone together with “Old Friend,” that seemed especially poignant. Then the full band tore into “No One Left to Run With,” a short, taut version, and damn if that didn't seem poignant as well.

“Worried Down With the Blues” was a drippy, gooey early highlight, and it was great to hear “True Gravity" back in the set. Tonight’s read didn’t quite achieve the kind of majesty of those legendary 1996 versions, but it will be fun to hear how this one morphs through the run. On the set-closing “Ain't Wastin’ Time No More,” Derek played a beautiful, aggressive solo. In fact, Derek was a monster all night; it was as if someone had spiked his catnip, and because these players are empathetic and symbiotic, Warren gave him the room to soar.

The first set was solid, but the second set was sublime. Derek’s solo on “Dreams” was like great sex, starting slow, teasing, climbing, until the whole band was shuddering and shimmering and exploding in climax. Then, right out of “Dreams,” they boys rolled into an extraordinary version of “Elizabeth Reed,” sans drum solo. Warren and Oteil paired off and melded together, playing a furious four-handed lead, while Derek led the rest of the band through freight train rhythm playing behind them.

After the “Dreams/Liz” 1-2 punch they could do no wrong. “The Sky is Crying” was almost a victory lap, bluesy and joyous. “Revival” ended the show almost where it began, with that jaunty rhythm reminiscent of the Bo Diddley beat of “No One Left to Run With.” And then, of course, there was no place to go but a dark and ominous “Whipping Post,” the perfect ending to a pretty damn fine beginning.


The Allman Brothers Band:

Gregg Allman - keys, vocals

Butch Trucks - drums

Jaimoe - drums

Oteil Burbridge - bass

Marc Quinones - percussion

Derek Trucks - guitar

Warren Haynes - guitar, vocals