The Allman Brothers Band

Final Concert 10-28-14

Peach Records

 Regardless that they had planned it, knowing that this would be their last concert must have been daunting for The Allman Brothers Band. Together in a variety of aggregations since 1969 (this one for 15 years), Final Concert 10-28-14 confirms that the influential blues-rock group rose to the occasion in monumental fashion, playing three sets featuring 25 different songs at New York City’s Beacon Theater. The classic venue had served as their home base for a series of 237 consecutively sold-out shows—a Broadway record—over the previous 25 years. So, closing shop with a long, fiery 238^th was quite fitting.

Throughout their lineage, The Allman Brothers Band featured several of America’s premier guitarists, starting with founders Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. To begin the show, the latest two, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, strum Duane Allman’s tender “Little Martha” plugged in; reverent, but ready to go. Gregg Allman and fellow original members Jaimoe and Butch Trucks on drums, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and percussionist Marc Quinones, then join in, launching full throttle into the first of three movements of “Mountain Jam.” Built around the calypso melody of folk singer Donovan’s “There is a Mountain,” the Allman Brothers improvised a cosmic instrumental jam out of it, as electrifying as ever here. That sets up a swinging, bluesy take on British R&B guitarist Spencer Davis’s “Don’t Want You No More,” which in turn ignites Gregg Allman’s down and smoky blues-rocker, “It’s Not My Cross to Bear.” The band’s signature version of legendary bluesman Elmore James’ “One Way Out” is next in a funky, tough as nails take that zeroes in on the tightknit relationship this group of players enjoyed.

That initial 20 minutes of this ultimately four-hour extravaganza serves as an ideal sweep through the command of musical styles and eras, not to mention the next level talent, that made The Allman Brothers Band one-of-a-kind. And they never let up all night. Gregg Allman was 66 at the time and passed away just two and a half years afterwards. His gravelly blues singing was potent and convincing throughout this show. Whether in his immortal, ghostly and defiant “Midnight Rider,” aching “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More, pleading “Dreams,” or ferocious “Black Hearted Woman” (with a jam attached to die for), Allman brought everything he had, and laid it out in warm voice and flowing organ playing. Nearing the end, sandwiched between the concluding two segments of “Mountain Jam,” Allman croons the classic Christian hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” revealing a knowing weariness ideal for the moment. That song was played this night because the original band played it in 1971 at Duane Allman’s funeral. Two more full circle moments follow, as they bring the show to a close in the wee hours of October 29^th, the date of Allman’s death. The song they performed so succinctly and marvelously at that final moment, Muddy Waters’ “Trouble No More,” was the first song the fledgling Allman Brothers Band ever played together in 1969.

Whether during Dickey Betts’ adoring and soaring “Blue Sky” and rip-roaring “Southbound,” or Gregg Allman’s plaintive “Melissa” and thundering “Whipping Post,” the magnificent breadth of the Allman Brothers’ repertoire is presented with the discerning detail born of experience. But these seasoned players also unleash the unbridled intensity of youngsters just finding their footing.

The acclaimed producer and sound engineer Bill Levinson, aided by Mr. Haynes, made sure this album—out now on all digital formats—sounds as close to the enviable experience of being there as possible. A 16-page booklet of photos and an enlightening essay by Allman Brothers historian John Lynskey add the finishing touches to the handsome three-CD set to be released November 29^th.

Tom Clarke for MAS

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