After a night off, the Allman Brothers Band picked up right where they left off during last night’s show No. 3 of its current run at New York City’s Beacon Theater.
Joining the legendary southern rockers for a night of pure blues jammin’ bliss was an old friend, Buddy Guy, and a pair of new friends, Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell of Phish. The band welcomed Guy towards the end of its first set for renditions of two classic blues songs, “The Sky is Crying” and “You Don’t Love Me Anymore.”
The Brothers and Guy were then joined by Anastasio and McConnell, who just last weekend dusted off their instruments and played the first three gigs of a reunion tour in Hampton, Va. Together they brought down the house with a stunning version of the Allman classic, “Southbound,” that ended the first set and left the crowd screaming for more.
Suffice to say, they didn’t disappoint.
After a brief intermission, Anastasio and McConnell returned with the Brothers once again, opening the second set with a dazzling performance of traditional blues song, “I Know You Rider,” before taking it up a notch with a blistering edition of “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”
The Allman Brothers then closed out night No. 3 with “Dreams,” “Jessica” and an extended version of “Statesboro Blues.”
Check out the videos below of Brothers jammin' with Guy on "You Don't Love Me," and with Anastasio and Page on "Southbound." (If you’ve got more photos or videos to share, send them to editor@gibson.com and we’ll post them here.)
The Allmans continue their historic ’09 run at the Beacon — which is celebrating the legacy of founder Duane Allman and the band's 40th Anniversary — with shows No. 4 tonight, and No. 5 tomorrow night. As for additional special guests, Rolling Stone reports that Boz Scaggs is taking the stage tonight, while Duane's former Derek and the Dominoes bandmate Eric Clapton is scheduled to appear on Mar. 19 and 20.
Other stars on the rumored-to-be-appearing list include Sheryl Crow, Billy Gibbons, Kid Rock, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. Former ABB guitarist Dickey Betts, one of the four surviving members from the band's original lineup, is also rumored to be on the guest list, although Gregg Allman has repeatedly denied it. Betts left the band in 2001 after a bitter dispute over personal issues. His last shows with the band were during the 2001 Beacon run.
Either way, we’ll give you the scoop on who shows up and who doesn't first thing Monday morning, so don’t forget to check back!
Click here to see highlights from the first night, and here for night No. 2.
Mar. 12, 2009
Set 1: “Little Martha,” Trouble No More,” “Leave My Blues at Home,” “Who’s Been Talking” (old Howlin’ Wolf song), “Black Hearted Woman,” “You Can’t Lose What You Never Had,” “The Sky is Crying” (with Buddy Guy on guitar), “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” (with Buddy Guy on guitar), “Southbound” (with Buddy Guy and Trey Anastasio on guitar, and Page McConnell on keyboards).
Set 2: “I Know You Rider” (with Trey Anastasio on guitar and Page McConnell on keyboards), “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (with Trey Anastasio on guitar and Page McConnell on keyboards), “Dreams” and “Jessica.”
Encore: “Statesboro Blues” (extended version).
"You Don't Love Me" with Buddy Guy
"Southbound" with Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell of Phish and Buddy Guy