What's left of The Allman Brothers Band came together Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York to mark their 50th anniversary.
Calling themselves The Brothers, original member Jaimoe was joined by latter day members Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Oteil Burbridge and Marc Quinones, along with keyboardist Reese Wynans who was in the pre-Allman Brothers Band The Second Coming, drummer Duane Trucks from Widespread Panic, and former Allman Brothers keyboardist Chuck Leavell. (Derek and Duane are brothers and the nephew of the late Allman's drummer Butch Trucks.)
They did a 24-song set spread over two sets. The first set started with a cover of The Spencer Davis Group's “Don’t Want You No More” and closed with "Jessica."
Set two started with "Mountain Jam" and ended with "Whipping Post," the second of two encores.
The show was Jaimoe's idea -- one of only two original members left. Guitarist Dickey Betts was asked to be part of the show, but is medical issues prevented him from participating. Here is Warren Haynes on Jaimoe's idea for the 50th:
"The wheels started spinning [and] we started putting it in the planning stages, you know. But, as someone said, you only get one 50th anniversary. It is a big deal and I'm sure we were all hoping that the band would still be around to play, but this is a good way to pay tribute to what they did. When I say they, I know speaking for Derek and myself, we always felt like we were just trying to honor the original band, which we both love so much."
The Allman Brothers last show prior to last night was their 45th anniversary finale at The Beacon Theatre in New York in 2014. Original members Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks both died in 2017. The other two founding members -- Duane Allman and Berry Oakley were killed in motorcycle accidents in 1971 and '72.
The Brothers - Madison Square Garden, New York - March 10th, 2020:
Set Two:
Encores:
On March 11th, 1970, Crosby Stills and Nash won the Best New Artist Grammy, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released their debut album, Deja Vu. The song: "Carry On" came about because they needed an opener for the album. It was the last of the four singles released off it, and the only one not to make the Hot 100, though it got plenty of FM airplay.
Some songs are born out of inspiration, some out of necessity. "Carry On," which kicks off Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Deja Vu album, falls into the latter category, according to Stephen Stills and David Crosby.
Stills: “We needed an opener, basically, I think is what it was and I said, ‘I’ll think of something — a shuffle.
Crosby: ‘How ’bout a shuffle? Duh dan duh dan da dun’
Stills: And it’s like so I scratched my way through some words. It’s actually a little vague, the words to that.
Crosby: It’s good, though.
Stills: Yeah.
Crosby: A lot of the time it’s like we just made a little paper glider and threw it over the wall. We have no idea where it’s going on the other side. How it gets to you is like how it gets to you, y’know.”
Boston guitarist and sometime keyboardist Tom Scholz celebrates his 73rd birthday today (March 10th). He says he risked losing a finger to create the effect at the end of the organ solo on the song "Hitch a Ride" from the debut album. He says there's an effect on "Hitch a Ride," off Boston's debut album, that he's particularly proud of -- especially since it could have cost him a finger.
"The last chord of the organ solo the organ changes pitch. A Hammond organ won't change pitch, there was really no way to get it to do that back in 1976. So as I was holding the last chord of the organ solo, I reached behind underneath this tape deck, knowing that it had a big flywheel with spokes on it that I could have stuck a finger in. But I didn't care, I wanted to change the pitch. So I reached underneath the thing, grabbed the flywheel, it slowed the tape down and made the pitch go up on the organ solo at the end.
If you paid me this kind of money to do nothing, I would KEEP doing nothing. STEVE PERRY hasn't been the lead singer of JOURNEY for 23 years. But it turns out he still makes a ton of money when they go on tour. The current members of Journey have been wrapped up in a lawsuit. And it's brought out some details about the deal Steve made when he left in 1997.
Basically, he co-owned the rights to the name "Journey" along with guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Jonathan Cain. And he relinquished those rights when he quit, but got a lot in return. Check this out . . .
For their first two tours without him, he got 50% of what Neal or Jon made, whichever was higher. Then he got 25% for their third tour, and 12.5% for EVERY tour after that.
That includes any profits they've made from ticket sales, merchandise, and sponsorships. And he made the same deal for any albums they release. So he still makes money on those.
Since Steve left the band, they've released four albums and an EP. And they've toured a LOT. Their "Eclipse Tour" alone ran from 2011 to 2017 . . . included 232 shows . . . and was the longest-running tour they've ever done.
20 years ago today (March 6th), Eric Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, in a ceremony that also included The Lovin' Spoonful, James Taylor and Bonnie Raitt, among others. "After Midnight" was the first JJ Cale song Eric ever heard and the first one he recorded. Eric Clapton is a huge fan of the late JJ Cale. After he recorded such Cale songs as "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," the two finally recorded an album together in 2006. Clapton recalls finding out just how mysterious a character Cale -- who he calls John -- was after being introduced to his music by Delaney Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie, who would soon produce Clapton's self-titled first solo album in 1970.
“He gave me this single he had of John’s, ‘After Midnight,’ and eventually we recorded that, with Delaney producing. And I just started to hunger and need to know more. And with John being the kind of guy he was, it was a challenge. I would have to go and hunt down anything I could find out, including, I mean, I ended up getting a publicity photograph, an 8x10, of John, which was like gold dust. And even that was so poorly lit that all you could see was the outline of his hair.”
Mick Jagger has explained why he stopped taking acting roles for nearly 20 years, after appearing in a dozen movies between the late '60s and 2001.
He tells USA Today that it was due to a combination of "laziness and not getting a decent script." He says he "would like to have done a lot more," but film's "a funny world... You get a lot of rubbish offered to you that you might do if that was the only job." Jagger, of course, has plenty of "other things to do."
Jagger finally found a script he liked in Burnt Orange Heresy, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last fall. Although he only appears in two scenes, he felt he could do something with the limited role, "even though there's not a lot of screen time."
Jagger says he's already started preparing for the next leg of The Rolling Stones' No Filter tour, which kicks off May 8th in San Diego. He says he's "going to the gym, singing, [taking] dance classes – trying to get ahead of the game." He claims he's feeling fine since his heart surgery last summer, and calls his recovery "really easy."
After weeks of rumors, Genesis confirmed they're reuniting for their first tour in 13 years.
The band will do 10 U.K. dates from November 16th in Dublin, Ireland through December 11th in Glasgow, Scotland. Tickets for the shows go on sale Friday. No North American dates have been announced yet.
Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks appeared on BBC Radio 2 Wednesday morning to talk about the reunion and revealed that they had been rehearsing with bassist/guitarist Daryl Stuermer and Collins 18-year-old son Nick on drums in New York City back in January when they were spotted at a Knicks game. Rutherford said that Collins getting back on stage after years of health issues got the reunion idea rolling.
Mike Rutherford explains why it was the right time for Genesis to reunite:
"It's happened very naturally. Phil's been out on tour the last sort of two and a half years doing his stuff. His son Nick has been drumming, Nicholas, and it sort of seemed to have a natural moment to have a conversation about it. We're all still good friends, we're all above grass and here we are."
And before you ask, Peter Gabriel will not be involved
A new Ozzy Osbourne 8-bit video game called Legend of Ozzy has launched online.
You have to direct a bat outfitted with Ozzy's head through various obstacles like wolves, devils and evil eyes -- and collect blood droplets to keep the Ozzy-bat alive. The game's soundtrack features cuts from his new album, Ordinary Man. Play it at LegendOfOzzy.com.
In other Ozzy news, Sharon Osbourne says that her and Ozzy's children will inherit everything when they die. She mentioned this on her show The Talk in a discussion about Kirk Douglas donating all his fortune to his charity rather than his children. Sharon said, "I just know that my husband's body of work, that he's written, and kept us all in the lifestyle that we love, goes to my children. His name and likeness goes to my children. 'Cause you leave your name and likeness, and I don't want someone that never met my husband owning his name and likeness, and selling T-shirts everywhere and whatever. No, it stays in the Osbourne family."
Jon Bon Jovi celebrates his 58th birthday today (March 2). He says his song "It's My Life" was taken away by fans who made it their own. It peaked at number-33 on the Billboard Hot 100 so not a huge hit single, but it's one of Bon Jovi's indisputable classics. Jon Bon Jovi explains that this happened because of the way fans related to its lyrics, especially the title line.
“They took it away from me, they made it their own. That was a universal and timeless and a beyond our expectations line. I mean, I selfishly said that line, 'Like Frankie said, I did it my way.' I’d just come back from making a movie and said, ‘This is me-me-me.’ Wow! Who knew? It gets out into the consciousness — it’s timeless, classic, it translates to any language, the language of the heart, which is music. And it all goes back to those underlying themes of having faith in faith and hope in hope.”
The Allman Brothers Band are celebrating their 50th anniversary with the release today of a massive boxed set.
Trouble No More: 50th Anniversary Collection contains 61 tracks spread over five-CDs or 10-vinyl discs.
Presented in chronological order, and representing all 13 lineups of the band, it starts with their very first recording, a demo of the Muddy Waters' song "Trouble No More," recorded in 1969, as well as studio recordings, live performances, rarities and seven unreleased tracks.
Appropriately enough it also ends with a live version of "Trouble No More” from their last show at New York's Beacon Theater in 2014.
Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes on the goal of the new Allman Brothers Band box set, Trouble No More, which is out today (Friday).
"Just to honor the legacy and showcase not just all the different eras or line-ups, but kind of the strength that remained throughout the whole thing. It was a lot to choose from, but I think we did a good job of putting it all together."
The set is broken down as follows:
Haynes, along with Allman Brothers founding drummer Jaimoe, will come together with other members of the band and special guests for a 50th anniversary show at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 10th.
