The Black Crowes – Brixton Academy 2008

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In what seems to be becoming normality for The Black Crowes the full tour supporting new album Warpaint, their first in seven years, is confined entirely to North America with just a couple of rare exceptions, and this is one of them.

Having just completed a short run in Australia the Crowes scheduled a short invite-only set for French TV in Paris, tonight’s show and one show in Amsterdam before heading home again. Tonight’s show didn’t quite turn out to be what it was originally announced to be. Before going to Australia they completed a short US tour billed as “One Night Only”, which were shows featuring the entire new album, followed by a handful of older songs.

Initially tonight’s show, and Amsterdam’s, were said to follow the same template. In the end, they were the same as the Australian shows (and the Owensboro, Kentucky show), but longer. They were also supposed to play for three hours tonight, which they didn’t quite, but anything over two hours is a long show, so the difference between the two-hours-and-forty-minutes that they played, and three hours isn’t particularly noticeable.

The rarity of a Black Crowes show in Europe these days doesn’t help when it comes to their setlists. The Crowes are known, just like bands such as Gov’t Mule and The Allman Brothers Band for changing their setlist every night, making it almost impossible to predict which songs you’re going to hear when you go to a show. But, with such a long time between shows (just over two years, in the case of London and the UK) much of the crowd wants to hear the big songs, and as such it’s no surprise that tracks like Remedy, Sting Me, Thorn In My Pride, Jealous Again, Wiser Time and Sometimes Salvation all figure tonight.

The band’s performance was outstanding, and in particular singer Chris Robinson was simply astonishing, alongside his brother Rich, who proved beyond question he is one of the most versatile and accomplished guitarists in the World. Well known for his “Chris-isms” (seemingly random rants and between song phrases) he stayed remarkably quiet tonight, only really addressing the crowd on two occasions to thank them for having the band back again. This meant 160 minutes of nearly uninterrupted music, and Chris was on amazing vocal form. On top of his performance the band’s new members also stood out. Replacing guitar hero Marc Ford (temporarily replaced on a tour in 2006 following his shock last minute departure by Chris Robinson’s New Earth Mud band-mate Paul Stacey) is Luther Dickinson, from North Mississippi Allstars, and replacing long-time keyboard player Eddie Harsch is Adam MacDougall.

Both of the new men fit perfectly with the Crowes sound, although Dickinson guitar approach is a lot more rock oriented than Ford’s more laid-back style (for comparative purposes think of the difference between original Guns N’ Roses guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin). But excellent playing from everyone involved couldn’t mask the fact that the setlist was something very short of inspired. Only Seeing Things, Downtown Money Waster and By Your Side came close to being interesting inclusions as the rest, new songs aside, were all pretty obvious selections. On a personal note, nothing at all from Lions was very disappointing.

Of the new songs the magnificent groove of Walk Believer Walk comes across perfectly in a live setting, as does the simple blues of God’s Got It, complete with drummer Steve Gorman on a marching band bass drum. Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution was a bit anonymous between a massively extended Thorn In My Pride and the main-set-closing brace of Jealous Again and Remedy, as was the mellow Oh Josephine between By Your Side and Downtown Money Waster.

Setlist complaints aside the band were excellent, and would comfortably bear seeing again as they’re unlikely to pull out the same setlist next time. The big question is, how far away is next time? They have just announced a full North American tour stretching almost non-stop from June through to the end of December, with more dates to be announced, putting the prospect of a more complete European tour well into 2009. But hopefully it will happen and we’ll be treated to the famous Crowes variety again. It will be worth the wait if it does come around.

“ Chris Robinson was simply astonishing ”

Setlist: Wounded Bird / Sting Me / Black Moon Creeping / Seeing Things / Walk Believer Walk / Poor Elijah – Tribute To Johnson (Medley) / My Morning Song / Wiser Time / By Your Side / Oh Josephine / Downtown Money Waster / Thorn In My Pride / Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution / Jealous Again / Remedy // God’s Got It / I Don’t Know Why / Sometimes Salvation

Photo(s): Johan Eriksson | www.rockersdigest.com

Written by Andy Lye
More: Gigs, Jam Bands, The Black Crowes