Poorly attended shows at Voodoo Lounge feel especially desolate and lonely for this concert-venue-in-a-casino. A packed house however, makes it intimate. Last night, Chris Robinson and the rest of the Black Crowes played a set for their hardcore fans and it only got jammy four times.
Despite the dearth of crowd-pleasing material, at least the jam sessions didn't get too out of hand or hard to listen to. What was hard to understand was lyrics. Things got a little garbled at times. Of course, the sound dudes did an excellent job. (I have heard in the past from other musicians that the venue rarely lets outside people touch the sound boards.) I had never seen a band play on stage with large partitions between each of their amps or backup singers standing behind a clear wall.They each had their own Oriental rug to perform on too.
I also noticed that they had a rack of about 12 different guitars behind them on stage. The Black Crowes seem like they are experts at the touring game.
Chris Robinson (who had a Grateful Dead patch on the knee of his perfectly flared jeans) seamlessly moved between singing, guitar playing and a little harmonica action. He's also a pretty decent dancer... for a white boy with braids.
Overall, it was a satisfying show. I've missed them every time they've come to Kansas City, and it was worth the wait to see "Cursed Diamond" and "High Head Blues" performed live. Amorica is one of my favorite albums of all time. It was refreshing to see a band that didn't go through their catalog of radio hits. As much as I would have enjoyed "Conspiracy" at the encore, I thought that Bob Marley's "Pimper's Paradise" was a fine audience send-off.
Set list
Cursed Diamond
Under A Mountain
Walk Believer Walk
High Head Blues
Ozone Mama
I Ain't Hiding
Young Man, Old Man
Whoa Mule
She (Gram Parsons cover)
My Morning Song
Oh Josephine
Nonfiction
Movin' On Down the Line
Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution
Twice As Hard
Encore
She Talks To Angels
Pimper's Paradise
(photos by Mike Walker)
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I'm pretty sure they played "Jealous Again." I have some video on my phone of it. I was sitting in the front row in the balcony and was surprised at how good the sound was, including Chris' lyrics. It was a great show.
They are also musician's musicians. The epic 20+ (my friend argued it was 30+ -minute long, including the jam intro and drum/percussion solos, "Thorn in my Pride" was EPIC. As *Melody Maker* said, the Black Crowes are "The Most Rock 'n' Roll Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World" and they showed it again last night.
�The dense crowd seemed to cycle through moments of lethargy and mild excitement.�
Are you kidding me? Are you sure you were at the Black Crowes concert?? You must have been standing with the other people who were only expecting to hear tracks off the Shake Your Money Maker album. I was on the floor about 20 feet from the stage and the crowd around me couldn�t stand still because they were so into the concert. Sadly, most people don�t realize the Crowes have put out 6 studio albums since Money Maker and have a new double-album coming out this fall. They�re not on a comeback or reunion tour. Just because radio stations don�t play any of their recent songs, doesn�t mean they haven�t put out some great music since �Jealous Again�. Quite the contrary. I�ve seen them 7 times in the past 4 or 5 years and the show last night at VooDoo was one of the best I�ve seen. Yes, they are experts at touring because they are out touring all of the time. They are one of the best live bands you�ll ever see. Check out Timothy Finn�s review at http://backtorockville.typepad... He got it right.
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