Artist:     The Brothers

Album:     March 10th, 2020 / MSG

Label:     Peach Records

Release Date:     7.23.21

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Five and a half years after The Allman Brothers Band played their last concert at New York City’s Beacon Theater, the surviving members of that final lineup regrouped, with a trio of guests, as The Brothers. It was an incredible show to witness, and these four CDs (also available on Blu-Ray and DVD) capture their 50^th anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden in all its blazing glory. Locked together by uncommon proficiency and conviction, the band electrified the sold-out house of over 18,000 fans with cutting-edge music steeped in history. Allman Brothers music is the blues on a jet engine flight, rocking and swinging and soaring on tangents of invention.

Founding drummer Jaimoe conceived the idea for the concert, and he played it with a jazzman’s flair alongside Duane Trucks, of Widespread Panic. Younger brother to guitarist Derek, Trucks hit the skins powerfully and assuredly in the place of their late uncle, Butch Trucks. Marc Quinones filled the spaces with spicy Latin percussion, and bassist Oteil Burbridge stirred the fluid, colorful bottom. Reese Wynans (of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble renown) nearly joined the Allman Brothers when Duane Allman formed the band in 1969. Wynans played superlative organ in the deep void left behind by Gregg Allman.

Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell, a crucial member of the Allman Brothers in the early 1970s, was the premier guest, playing grand (literally and figuratively) piano for the middle third of the concert. “Oh man, it was such a joy,” he told me recently. “They called me and I jumped right on it, of course.” Leavell’s gospel-tailored introduction to “Soulshine,” his signature brilliance during the retired guitarist Dickey Betts’ spirited instrumental “Jessica,” and his singing of Betts’ gorgeous “Blue Sky,” are but a few of his enrichments. “Everybody stepped up to the plate,” Leavell said, “But definitely Warren Haynes, doing all the vocals as well as he did, and playing so brilliantly.”

Guitarist Warren Haynes guided the band through a 24-song cascade of classic Allman Brothers, confidently and brilliantly singing 18 of the songs Gregg Allman made famous. He alluded many times to Allman’s distinctive inflections, but his own guttural soul always shined. At the show’s outset, a vintage video of Gregg Allman singing the opening six lyrics to his pained “It’s Not My Cross to Bear” was shown. Haynes began singing on the seventh word, their voices blending so well, the transition is nearly imperceptible here. Whether during the definitive, uplifting Allman Brothers take on Blind Willie McTell’s “Statesboro Blues,” or the peaks and valleys of his and Allman’s devastating blues, “Desdemona,” or Allman’s commanding “Stand Back,” for four hours, Haynes was in rare form paying tribute to the greatest of blue-eyed blues singers.

Because of his limitless ingenuity, Derek Trucks has become one of the world’s most respected guitarists. His urging of joyfulness in Betts’ “Revival,” and then at the drop of a hat, underscoring of the gritty scene of being “Lost in the silver spoon” during Allman’s “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’,” for instance, align perfectly with the annals, but are second-to-none all the same. When he interacts with Haynes, the music elevates naturally. Side-by-side throughout “Mountain Jam,” they were among a party of explorers, bending and blending blue notes from within astonishingly broad spectrums. But they never lost sight of the unique guitar interplay that Duane Allman and Dickey Betts instituted. In another example, what may seem like randomly thrown knives during Elmore James’ “One Way Out,” are actually hundreds of instantly conceived, intricate lines of blistering musical communication.

These incredible players play their hearts out here, offering a decisive Allman Brothers Band experience with just one original member of the group present. Many have also called this the last concert on earth. “Well it was.” Leavell agreed. “There was concern the day of. Mid-morning or so, they gave us the all clear. The next day, boom, almost the whole country shut down! I sure would like to take that show on the road. It worked so very well, and it would be something that a lot of people would like to see.” People can you feel it, love is in the air! What a revival this was, and hopefully will be again.

—Tom Clarke