Customer Reviews

Instant Live: Alltel Pavilion at Walnut Creek

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Allman Brothers @ Walnut Creek is an amazing example of seven guys who play like the devil were around the corner, coming to collect his due.
The band, consisting of: Gregg Allman, organ, piano, & vocals,
Jaimoe: drums, Butch Trucks: drums, Warren Haynes: guitar, & vocals, Marc Quinones: percussion, Oteil Burbridge: bass, & Derek Trucks: guitar, sound as if they all are possessed. A possession by the grand spirit of great music.
The album is recorded straight from the soundboard, and the sound quality is excellent. You hear Warren Haynes' guitar on the right channel, and Derek Trucks' guitar on the left channel, which really gives you the impression of being there. (Especially with a good sound system.)
Now as to the show itself:
The show opens on a pretty bluesy note with "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'", then heads straight into "Done Somebody Wrong." A pretty basic and straight-forward "Come & Go Blues," Then a bold "Woman Across The River" with Warren on vocals. "Gambler's Roll" is better than the studio version on "Seven Turns", and then the god's feel the passion with Gregg & Warren alternating vocals, and Warren & Derek alternating incredible guitar solo's on "Soulshine." "Who's Been Talking" is an incredible slow blues with Warren on vocals, if this song doesn't make you get up and move, you unfortunately are in the same shape as the late , great, Superman. Following this is an awesome version of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" with Derek Trucks' wife: Susan Tedeschi on vocals. This woman can sing, and the master wordsmith would be proud. "Old Before My Time" kind of gives you that Ray Charles (in his country days) vibe, with a soulful vocal by Gregg. "Wasted Words" opens with a groovy,funky, bass line by Oteil and just never let's up from there. After this the best only get's better. Clocking in at 40 minutes, "Instrumental Illness" is a masterpiece. It features Jaimoe, Butch, and Marc on one of the best percussion peices I've ever heard. This is not a "drum solo", this is a "drum orchestra." It's reminiscent of the percussion peices you hear in some of the South African tribal peices that make your hair stand on end. "Instrumental .."
also features the incredible Karl Denson on saxophone. This guy is absolutely one of the greatest jazz sax players out there, with a great ear for "fusion."
It's hard to follow that masterpiece, but the show doesn't let up there. Van Morrison's "Into The Mystic" get's a superb vocal rendering by Warren. Then they pull out all the stops. "Dreams" and "Whipping Post" feature Branford Marsalis on saxophone. The sax brings a jazzy influence to two (already) incredible songs. These two renderings,also featuring the dual guitars of Warren and Derek,are the definition of a musically religious experience.
The show's encore is "One Way Out." The only thing this song does negatively is make you sad that this incredible show has reached it's finale.
This was the final show of last year's tour. The Allman Brothers Band play as if it were 1971 again on this night. Is Dickey Betts missed? Yes and no, yes because every Allman Brothers fan loved the musical expertise that he brought to the stage. No, because unbelievably, the musical "spirit" never left the stage.
So that said, enjoy this show. Kick back, have a cocktail, and a smoke, and relive the music that makes the god's themselves break a smile, and tap their feet.

This is one of many "instant Live" CDs that the Allmans do annually now. They are in top form with many strong song selctions and with Gregg in fine voice. An added bonus is Mrs. Derek Trucks (Susan Tedeschi) joining the band for her rendition of Dylan's "Don't think twice. it's allright". Barnford Marsalis joins the Allmans for 2 cuts at end of the night and he is great saxophonist and it's great to hear classic like Dreams and Whipping Post with a world class saxophonist behind them. Wasted Words and "old before my time" are 2 songs you will not easily find on Allamn Brothers live Cds also. They issued many Instant Lives from 2003 so pick one that's special like this one.

With the advent of Instant Live, the Allman Brothers made most shows available in pristine soundboard quality to listeners. This show from the 2003 tour was one of the best shows of a remarkable tour. The band was touring the new Hittin' The Note record, and much of the tour was played with Karl Denson as opening act, reflecting (I think) some of Derek Trucks musical sensibilities. In addition Warren Haynes is pushing the band to add more cover tunes.

As a result we get wonderful tracs like Who's Been Talking, Into the Mystic and a fantastic version of Don't Think Twice featuring Susan Tedeschi. The aforementioned Mr. Denson takes a star turn on Instrumental Illness and Branford Marsalis joins the bad for Dreams and Whipping Post. Mixed in with new tracks from Hittin' The Note the band brings back Done Somebody Wrong, Come and Go Blues and a wickedly funky version of Wasted Words.

Another awesome IL recording from ABB's 2003 tour, and this one is a keeper. A nice rendition of "Come and Go Blues", a rare appearance of "Gambler's Roll" a emotional version(as usual) of "Soulshine" make this one a winner. "Don't Think Twice" with vocals by Susan Tedeschi is downright chillin', not to forget a beautiful outing of "Into The Mystic" sung by Mr.Haynes. Just wish other bands would follow ABB and release their live shows. Then again, few bands can match their quality live.

There is a very bad trend in music of releasing CD sets of complete concerts. Every jam band is doing it. The Allman Brothers were one of the last hold outs.

All the truly great live albums, like Allman Brothers, Live at the Filmore East, or the early Graterful Dead albums, or Derek and the Dominoes Live, were taken from several shows. That way, you end up with truly great performances of every song.

When you have a complete concert, there are some songs you don't really need to hear again. This CD set has yet another version of Soulshine, which on every single live album that Warren Haynes has played on. It was a good song the first 20 times I heard it, but now I am sick of it.

The other problem, is the WHOLE concert is included, including all the cheering and talking in between tracks. I really don't want to hear a bunch of stoned idiots whistling and screaming for several minutes. All the truly great live albums have most of the audience noise edited out.

Not only is most of the audience noise included, it is actually cranked up. So you end up hearing whistling and screaming in the middle of some wonderful jamming. There is no reason for this. To get audience noise like this, the group actually has to have audience microphones.

What makes this CD set so good it is that it is so cheap. (Well, it was cheap when it was first issued. It looks like the price may have gone up more than a couple of bucks). With a CD burner, you can edit this down to a single CD of extremely great music, and it only cost the price of a single CD. With groups like Phish, their complete concerts are fairly expensive, so you end up paying a lot for what amounts to only a CD's worth of good material.

There is some fantastic music on the this CD. I hated to see Dickey Betts kicked out of the band, but adding Derek Trucks has really added new life to the band, just as when Warren Haynes came in 15 years ago. Even the classic Allman Brothers songs sound new and exciting. Trucks adds a new jazz orientation to the band. I really enjoy this new version of Wasted Words.

What makes this CD special is the guest appearances on four of the tracks. There is a saxophonist on Instrumental Illness and this turns into a really jazzy number. It is stretched out to 39 minutes, but 15 minutes of that is drum solos. I am not a big fan a drum solos, but the Allman Brothers, along with the Grateful Dead, were always the best at it. This one includes one of Butch Truck's tympanny solos (I have been looking for one of those since the first time I saw him do that in the mid seventies).

Dreams and Whipping Post feature a guest appearance by Brandford Marsailles. This is actually turning into somewhat of a cliche, since he has guested on a number of jam band alive albums, including the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic. This version of Dreams is great. I would put it up there with the one on the Greg Allman Tour album.

My only other quibble with this CD is Warren Haynes introduction of the guest musicians, "please welcome to the stage....". It is exactly the same as on his Gov't Mule CD's.

For fans of the ABB this Instant Live sound board recording is a nice addition; great show, sound quality, song list, and price. A full show (almost 150 minutes) from the '03 tour with great playing from the boys and some fine guest appearances (Susan Tedeschi - guitar and vocals on a sweet Don't Think Twice, Karl Denson - sax on a hot/extended (39:33!) Instrumental Illness, and Branford Marsalis - sax on an amazing/fenzied Dreams and Whipping Post). There is nothing to complain of here!

The Allman Brothers are just getting better and better, and this unpolished live recording shows just how good they really are. Looking forward to '04 Instant Live releases!

As good as any more thoroughly produced live album, this August 10, 2003 recording of the Allman Brothers Band's concert in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a real treat.
The sound is excellent, and the mix, which puts Warren Haynes in one speaker and Derek Trucks in the other, is equally fine. The band is right there in front of you. And both lead vocalists, Gregg Allman and Haynes, are in fine form.

Some of the "Instant Live" albums have the band sounding a little ragged for the first couple of songs, until they find the right gear, but not so here in Walnut Creek. The opener, "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'", is tough and tight, and it is followed by an excellent take on Elmore James' "Done Somebody Wrong" and a soulful "Come And Go Blues" from "Playin' Up A Storm", Gregg Allman's third solo album.

But the somewhat rarer tracks are of course the most interesting. The ABB were touring in support of the then-recent "Hittin' the Note" album at the time, and it's a bit of shame that there aren't a couple more songs from that excellent album to be found here...only three, one of which is an extravagant forty-minute take on the "Instrumental Illness" featuring Californian funk and soul saxist Karl Denson.
But the fine Freddie King-cover "Woman Across The River" sounds terrific, a gritty vocal by Warren Haynes and some sizzling lead guitar playing, and disc two opens with a beautiful "Old Before My Time", Gregg Allman's intense, haunting and quite beautiful country/folk lament, one of his finest lyrics, and one of his best vocal performances as well.

Other highlights include, well, the rest of the album. Okay, I've never been very fond of "Dreams", even if Branford Marsalis does appear on this live rendition, and fifteen minutes of "Whipping Post" may be five too many. But you can't beat these wonderful, intense performances of songs like "Gambler's Roll" (from the "Seven Turns" album), the funky "Wasted Words" (from "Brothers and Sisters"), and the wonderful re-done Gov't Mule-number "Soulshine" which has Haynes and Allman sharing lead vocals.

And the covers are highly enjoyable as well. Nobody can really match Howlin' Wolf himself on the awesome "Who's Been Talkin'", but the ABB go a long way towards making it their own, just like they did with Muddy Water's "Hoochie Coochie Man", by not trying to emulate the Wolf too closely. They do a slightly mellower, more soul-flavoured take on the song instead, and Gregg Allman provides a magnificent vocal. "One Way Out" is a classic live feature for the ABB, a wonderfully tough, funky 50s blues number originating with either Elmore James or Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II). And blues singer Susan Tedeschi, the wife of nine-years-younger guitar slinger Derek Trucks, guests on a nice, personal rendition of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice (It's All Right)", providing the lead vocal.
And finally, as a bit of a surprise, the band do an extremely credible and very enjoyable "Into The Mystic", the old Van Morrison soul-fusion-piece. Tremendous vocals by Warren Haynes and a top-notch performance by the entire band. Van the Man should be proud.

Great sound, great mix, great band, and a terrific set list. What more could you ask for?
4 3/4 stars. A couple of hours very well spent indeed.

Yippee. Pass that roach, snap your Bic, this is a real concert, unedited and the boys are hot! The inclusion of Saxophonists Marsalis and Densen was a bonus for the crowd.