The Fiance and I were lucky enough to score a couple of the hottest tickets in town: the Gregg Allman celebration concert at the Fabulous Fox in downtown Atlanta. What a night. I’ve been to hundreds of concerts, six of which were the Allman Brothers at various locations around Atlanta (mostly Lakewood), but I’ve never seen anything like this. It was a collection of some of the most talented musicians paying homage to one of the greatest artist of all time: Gregg Allman. The list of artists was a ‘who’s who’ of Southern rock, blues, and country. They all came out, one after another, and played an Allman Brothers or Gregg Allman song to a rousing audience.
For the most part, the four hour show had 100% audience karaoke participation. Come on, it’s the Allman Brothers; how do you NOT sing along? There were so many highlights…Wordpress won’t let me type them all. I’ll let the set list speak for itself:
“Come & Go Blues” – Warren Haynes
“End of the Line” – Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks
“Stand Back” – Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
“Can’t Lose What You Never Had” – Devon Allman, Jimmy Hall and Robert Randolph
“Please Call Home” – Sam Moore
“Just Another Rider” – Keb’ Mo’
“Just Before the Bullets Fly” – Brantley Gilbert
“Let This Be a Lesson To Ya” – Dr. John
“Queen of Hearts” – Pat Monahan
“One Way Out” – John Hiatt
“Statesboro Blues” – Taj Mahal and Gregg Allman
Intermission
“Just Ain’t Easy” – Widespread Panic
“Wasted Words” – Widespread Panic and Derek Trucks
“I’m No Angel” – Trace Adkins
“Trouble No More” – Trace Adkins
“Multi-Colored Lady” – Vince Gill
“All My Friends” – Martina McBride
“Can You Fool” – Pat Monahan and Martina McBride
“Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” – Eric Church
“Win, Lose or Draw” – Eric Church
“These Days” – Jackson Browne and Gregg Allman
“Melissa” – Jackson Browne and Gregg Allman
“Midnight Rider” – Vince Gill, Zac Brown and Gregg Allman
“Dreams” – The Allman Brothers Band
“Whipping Post” – The Allman Brothers Band
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” – Full cast
Our seats were incredible. 16th row at the Fox. If you’ve never been to the Fox, let me tell you, the acoustics are perfect, and being so close was that much better. Being a lifelong Allman Brothers fan, this was more than a treat. It was like a religious experience. While it’s hard to pick favorites, here are a couple that stick in my mind from the show:
Warren Haynes’ “Come & Go Blues” to open the show set the tone for the night. That dude can rip a guitar.
Robert Randolph is 100% worth the price of admission. Go see him if you haven’t.
Taj Mahal and Gregg Allman absolutely shredded “Statesboro Blues”.
Trace Adkins brought the house down with “I’m No Angel”.
Martina McBride wore leather pants.
“Midnight Rider” by Gregg Allman, Zac Brown, and Vince Gill was as good a rendition of that song as I’ve ever heard. They could make that a single.
Let me specifically talk about the Allman Brothers’ set. They played two songs: “Dreams” (my absolute favorite ABB song) and “Whipping Post”. I don’t know how else to describe it, but their set was perfect. “Dreams” was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Period. I will rank hearing that song live in my top five life experiences (so far). I can’t wait for the show to be broadcast so you can hear it as well.
To finish the show, the whole crew came out for a touching version of “Will the Circle be Unbroken”. Very fitting.
Some images from our seats:
How heavy was the air in there?
Dude. That had to be the best show ever. I saw the Allman Brothers the first time in Coleman Colesium in Tuscaloosa in the 90s. Next time was at an outdoor amplitheater which I cannot remember. The Fox Theatre is such a great venue for this event. I cannot wait until it is released on video.
So cool that your fiance was into as well. My wife would probably have been bored to death. She makes up for it with her cooking and love of bourbon.
Sounds like a phenomenal show (and great seats too)! I am a longtime Allmans fan and would have been in heaven at this performance. I take it that Dickey Betts did not appear (?) While I am a big fan of Dickey’s material (Blue Sky and Elizabeth Reed probably are my favorite ABB tunes), having read Gregg’s autobiography, it is clear that the tension between Gregg and Dickey is very real and goes back many years, unfortunately.