Tedeschi Trucks Band Boston 2017

Another in our late-Fall run of excellent concerts, Tedeschi Trucks Band again at the Orpheum (12/2)!  One may recall last year's excellent show with Jorma opening solo, for which we had front row center seats.  This year we opted for the third night of their run, at which they'd be doing two full sets with no opener.  This Saturday was the last show of a full 2017 of touring, and they left it all on the stage!

Tried to go to 6B on Beacon but it wasn't open and so went to Carrie Nation across the street for dinner.  Kind of pricey but a very nice room; the really expensive half-chicken with brussels sprouts and whipped potatoes was wonderful, but I hope they stick that leg I couldn't eat back on the chicken.

This was a fantastic concert from this amazing 12-piece band, just pure ecstasy from start to finish.  But (and I'll try to keep this short), the Orpheum in Boston is not a good place to expect people to see concerts.  It's cramped and small and the attendants are surly (one asked me at one point, "Sir, weren't you ALREADY seated?").  The one low-ceilinged lobby and the one small, smelly mens room off of it are masses of people bumping into each other before the show, at the break, and after the show.  People could get trampled easily, or get germs.

Also, they don't know whether they're a theater or a rock club.  They have stacks of speakers on stage and that means that many of the audience can't fucking see what's going on on stage!  We were far right (though close, 8th row) and only one of us could see any of the backup singers, and none of us could see Alicia Shakour (though we sure heard her) or the trombone player.  And there was even another section to our right!  Those people probably could only see the guitarists and Kofi Burbridge, they couldn't even see the drummers.  And they charged full price for this!?!

I hope that TTB comes to their senses and plays some other hall next year.  I think the Orpheum has very good sound (we had no complaints about volume yesterday!), but is a horrible venue.  Oh, one other thing: it's at the end of an alley in downtown Boston you know, and concert goers were trying to walk down it towards the security check and the doors.  We were all being mature and orderly but they had muscle out there shouting at us and almost shoving us into lines that made no sense.  Guess they believe in full employment, but I hate to think that my ticket price went towards these assholes.

But I need to stop bitching and start gushing.  This concert was fantastic, though we were cramped, packed, and prodded.  Derek Trucks was as on fire as much I've ever seen him, and his band was perfectly in step behind him.  There were excellent additions from Burbridge on keys and flute, from Mike Mattison stepping up to take a few leads, and from Tim Lefebvre on bass, who just needed a small nod from Trucks and then turned it up and set our world upside down (he almost lost his man-bun from rocking so thoroughly).

And that's not to mention Susan Tedeschi, who was absolutely stellar on vocals and played a fantastic rhythm.  Another great performance was the drumming of J.J. Johnson and Tyler Greenwell ... who seemed to be wearing out a snare with each song.  And my dog what a brass section, including the craziest, spaciest bass saxophone solo from Kebbi Williams early on and just rock solid grooves from Ephraim Owens on trumpet (he later did a solo himself with a mute, and then discarded it like a frisbee) and Elizabeth Lea on trombone.

The one backup vocalist I could see (besides when Mike came down front) was Mark Rivers and his support of Susan's alto was surreal.  And of course there was Alicia, who has the power to take over a song on a moment's notice ... at a couple of points Susan turned and said, "Yeah Alicia!" and we wish we could have seen her.

And there was a musical theme to this evening to my ear, which was space.  Over and over they'd start a song and get deeply into it and then Derek would turn it up and up and start wandering, and that amazing band would follow him into the most psychedelic corners and before long you had no idea what they were playing, though they were harmonizing and playing off each other and working as hard as they could to produce an awesome sound.  Very rarely did any of them, even the horn players, sit out for more than a few measures.  And then Derek would turn that farthest corner and come back to the theme and then Tim would rip off a run and then Susan would step to the mike and absolutely SCREAM the next verse, with the backup vocalists punching up her every syllable.  This was the most riveting stuff you could imagine, 12 people in each others minds just pouring out the rhythm and blues all over the floor, led by one of the best guitar players you've ever heard.

Well ... here's the setlist as far as I can tell.  I've pieced this together and it may have a few errors but you get the point:

set 1
In Every Heart
Don't Know What It Means
Keep On Growing
Shelter
Learn How to Love
Don't Drift Away
Get What You Deserve
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
I Want More

set 2
Statesboro Blues
Crying Over You
Part of Me
Let Me Get By
Comin' Home
Let's Go Get Stoned
Made Up Mind
I Pity the Fool
The Storm > Whipping Post

encore
A Song for You
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
Bound for Glory

Sandwiching the second set with Allman Brothers songs was brilliant!  As mentioned, this was a night of the powerful space blues and to commence the latter part of the night with the singalong of Statesboro Blues, to wind up and down through some of the spaciest songs they know, and then to finally come out of it a few(?) hours later and realize they were playing Whipping Post and that even Susan sometimes felt like she was tied to it and that she was going to scream about it to us for sure with the whole weird theater screaming along was cathartic to say the least.

One more note on the crowd ambiance:  At one point between sets I was pushing slowly through the mob in the lobby, not even sure where I was going or why (that is, I had no idea where the ends of the beer lines were or where they led).  But the guy behind me was having an even worse time.  "O God, oh no, oh this is terrible," he repeated over and over.  I turned around and told him, "Don't worry, we'll get there."  He looked startled and said, "Oh you don't understand.  I was complaining about the number of Phish t-shirts."

For the encore Susan and Kofi duetted on Leon Redbone's greatest(?) hit, and this was an incredible showcase, great piano.  And then their beautiful take on Circle, and then one of their most trademark songs to end the night.  WOW!!!

Jeez, time to tackle the lobby and the alley again, but we finally got out of there and made our way up Park Street (the church was totally wrapped in scaffolding except for the tallest bit of their steeple).

We had a little energy and space for wonder left, and so detoured towards the Nova Scotia Christmas tree that had just been dedicated.  This was the 100th anniversary edition ... please catch up on the story if you're not aware.  We circled the tree and touched its tresses, both where it grew free and where the lights had snagged it.  It rose over our heads and dwarfed us, silly Boston people who cared about what happened in Halifax and everywhere in the world.  That's what it's meant to do, and why Nova Scotia makes a point of this.

Goodbye to the tree and over the hill, and back to the car and then home.  Hoo boy, I'd go see TTB anywhere, just don't tell them that!