The Allman Brothers Band and Widespread Panic
Where: Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md.
When: Doors open 4:30 p.m. Tuesday
Info: $40 to $75; ticketmaster.com
Just because you missed the golden days of the Allman Brothers Band doesn’t mean you can’t get into the next best thing.
Gregg Allman, who formed the band in 1969 with his late brother Duane, is still going strong despite well-publicized bouts with hepatitis C and other maladies.
“I want to get in as much playing as I can,” said Allman, 61. “Now I have to give myself so much time to rest up [between shows]. You don’t want to go out and do a show on automatic pilot. I want to give it all I can.”
Indeed, the man who is credited with creating the southern rock/blues rock sound may have slowed physically but still has the enthusiasm, musical chops and whisky-heavy drawl of his youth.
This time out, listen for Allman to have a mix of new songs he’s recently written and some of the classics, including several almost sure bets such as “Midnight Rider.”
“I can’t play everything, but we mix it up,” he said. “Things slow down when you get older.”
Not that Allman has slowed that much by contemporary standards. True, he can’t play the 300-plus shows each year that once filled his date book, but he still puts on high-energy shows that exceed two hours.
Fan reviews — including from those who attended the Allman Brothers Band show in September 2008 at Merriweather Post Pavilion — reported the band’s sound was as clear and magical as ever.
“Anyone wondering if Gregg was up to touring had all their fears put to rest as his voice sounded good and every note out of his keyboarding was loud and crystal clear,” Roland Ray wrote on the band’s site.
That’s no one-time fluke as evidenced by the bounty of critical accolades heaped on the man and his band by numerous critics including David Singer of the Schenectady (N.Y.) Gazette:
“Gregg Allman sounded strong and healthy through classics like ‘Midnight Rider,’ ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ and the coolest ‘Come and Go Blues.’ They’re as good as they ever were which, at one time, was as good as it gets.”
