Photos by Lou Montesano
This Tedeschi-Trucks Band appearance at New York’s Beacon Theatre was their 30th show at the venue in their traditional fall residency. Many friends of the band regularly turn out to join wife Susan Tedeschi and husband Derek Trucks on stage, and for the third night of this year’s sold-out six-night run, Steve Earle opened with a solo acoustic set. As he left the stage to warm applause, Earle urged the house to get ready for “the finest band in America” —a demanding assessment to live up to but Tedeschi-Trucks certainly did all they could to earn that title.
Kicking things off the way the Allman Brothers Band began so many shows, “Statesboro Blues” set an up-tempo feel to the evening, but Tedeschi-Trucks is nothing if not eclectic. Susan Tedeschi’s vocals range from roaring to tender, with samplings of soul and gospel in between. On original compositions such as “Learn How to Love,” covers including “Darlin’ Be Home Soon” and standards like “The Sky Is Crying,” her Grammy-winning voice displays a range that matches her husband’s titanic guitar. New York concert-goers have watched Derek Trucks mature from a prodigy since he first appeared on the Beacon stage with Uncle Butch and the Allman Brothers Band to well-deserved guitar god status. Backed by two drummers, keyboards, horns and multiple vocalists, Tedeschi-Trucks offers a rich sound that goes beyond traditional jamband guitar solos.
Highlights of the evening included an uplifting “Glory Bound,” a segue from John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” into the Grateful Dead’s “Sugaree” and Susan’s outstanding vocals on George Harrison’s “Isn’t It a Pity.”
This year’s Beacon run wraps up mid-October, but the band, we’re confident, will be back same time next year and for many years thereafter.
—Lou Montesano
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