David Fricke of Rolling Stone Gets High On The Crowes

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/david-fricke/blogs/DavidFricke_May2010/203098/38726

The Black Crowes' Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys tour has really started to roll in the past couple weeks with reportedly stellar shows in St. Louis, Columbus, Chicago, Detroit and now again in Nashville at the historic Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry. While those of us hardcore fans who have not yet been to any shows on this tour resort to examining the setlists for tasty nuggets, favorites, and wished-for rarities (and there have been plenty of those already) in order to get a handle on how the tour is going, there is also the first-hand accounts of what its been like to be at the shows. Now the Crowes messageboards are full of opinionated and picky arm-chair quarterbacks and you get the typical range of comments, from the be-happy-with-whatever-they-play folks to the unsatisfiable complainers who wouldn't be happy with an entire set of unreleased songs that haven't been played in 50 years. You can take what you will from people's opinions about concerts that they didn't actually attend, but the thing that is getting me most excited is the majority of the first-hand accounts. Many fans have been reporting that regardless of what songs are being played, the band are clearly in a very positive head-space and there have been shows at which even long-time fans have been impressed and surprised at the outpouring of passion and musical intensity coming from the stage. Equally encouraging are the reports of the audience response and attitude at the best shows so far. It seems that in certain cities, the band/audience synergy has been particularly high. One fan had this to say:

I gotta say that this was one of the most exhuberant audiences I have been a part of - over the past 20 years. That place was rumbling from start to finish. I'm sure the acoustics of the Ryman had something to do with the actual VOLUME in that place but there is no escaping the fact the energy was through the roof. I was really blown away by the support of the Nashville audience and really pleased to see and feel the love for this band.

Chris was absolutely a man possessed for "Morning Song". My friend and I just looked at each other afterwards... staring in disbelief at what we had just witnessed. These guys are on fire and there is no stopping them right now. They are accomplished and happy about where they are and how loyal the fans have been and it shows.

By the way, I also saw Fricke at the show scribbling away on his notepad. He was ROCKING and it was obvious to me how much he enjoyed the show.

David Fricke of Rolling Stone has been a supporter of the band in the past and his articulate review of the Nashville show paints a vivid picture of the emotional experience of being at a show on this tour. I think this is what rock 'n' roll (and church?) is at its best: a communal jubilee celebration of life using music as the vehicle for the message and the means to bring people together. I can't wait for the Fillmore in SF in December!

Manassas live

Its fairly safe to say that Manassas is an underrated rock band. I wasn't really much aware of them until The Black Crowes started covering a few of their songs in 2005. We recently watched this live DVD from German TV in 1972 and were impressed at their jamming, tight rhythm grooves and the diversity of musical styles they hit on in just a handful of songs. They've got the weepy country ballad, the Latin-flavored jam, blues rock, and folky singer-songwriter stuff. Its clear after watching this just how much influence The Black Crowes have drawn from Manassas. Stephen Stills is a far better lead guitarist than I had given him credit for. He's smoking Hendrix-style on that Les Paul in the song Jet Set. Al Perkins on pedal steel is like a secret weapon and holds his own on guitar and pedal steel in the jams and rockers. What a treasure to have former Byrd and Flying Burrito Brother Chris Hillman on vocals, he sounds great with Stills, although he does look a little bit out of his element when the band starts jamming.

If you like 70s rock and you haven't listened to Manassas, this DVD is well worth checking out.

Black Crowes' Say Goodnight To The Bad Guys tour has begun!

...and if you wanna go crazy keeping track of the tour night by night in one convenient spot, this blog looks promising for being both a one-stop compendium of setlists, photos, fan reactions and YouTube videos as well as having some witty and amusing commentary on the whole Black Crowes fandom experience from an insider.

Black Crowes: new album and tour; indefinite hiatus in 2011

Didn't someone sing good things don't ever last? The Black Crowes have announced that they will take an indefinite hiatus at the end of this year. This is sad news for me, The Crowes have, in the last 5 years, become one those bands that, frankly, I just can't seem to get enough of. Its gonna be hard to not have "the next show" to look forward to for a long time. Thankfully, the rest of the year will be full of Black Crowes shows, including a 6 night run at the Fillmore in SF to close out the year.

The band members have put a lot of collective thought into this and have probably been planning it for some while, based on the fact that their soon to be released album and the 2010 tour are being presented as a massive and heartfelt "thank you" to every fan the Black Crowes have ever had. Even better news is that most of the shows in the late summer and fall will be three hour affairs, with an hour and a half acoustic set and then an hour and a half electric set.

Full tour details on cities, dates, on-sale dates as well as news about the soon-to-be-released acoustic greatest hits double album Croweology can be found in this press release.