Again, we hadn't seen arguably the best band in the land, Tedeschi Trucks Band, in way too long. For a while we were seeing them pretty much twice a year, but had missed them for the last three years and were very eager to see them on this tour. They somehow weren't hitting Boston or Maine, but were re-visiting the amphitheater in Gilford NH on September 6th, the last show of their Summer tour to promote their new album, Future Soul. And we were able to get pretty good seats, just to the right of the soundboard in the third row of that section.
I really like the new album (except the cover is a little cheesy), and it's remarkable how little turnover they've had for such a large band. The last time we saw them they'd had one new drummer, Isaac Eady, and for this tour they also had a new trumpeter, Emmanuel Echem. Besides that it was the same lineup of Susan and Derek in the middle (except they'd switched places and had no sound pier between them) with Brandon over on the right, Mark, Mike, and Alicia on a riser behind him, Gabe Dixon in his nest of keyboards on the left, the drummers in the back center, and Elizabeth and Kebby flanking the new guy up on a riser behind Gabe.
We opted to stay at the Fireside Suites in Gilford for this time (our 6th concert up there), and after a nice trip up on a sunny day we thought we were in plenty of time to mosey out to dinner before the show. But there were tourists everywhere and we were just able to get in a lousy Mexican dinner at Vida in Interlaken Park before scurrying over there, waiting in long lines to get into the parking lot and then into the pavilion, and making it to our seats having missed only a couple of tunes from the opener, Lukas Nelson.
Nelson had a good band with him, and they did a pretty good set. Highlights were Just Outside of Austin, the Dire Straits tune Romeo and Juliet, and another original, Carolina. It was a little dismaying/confusing that their sound was never quite right. I didn't hear one sound from their bongo player/percussionist for the whole set, even though it looked like he was hitting those things pretty hard. Nelson is a good singer and a pretty slick guitarist, but his voice was too trebly. What saved their sound was they had the keyboard player and the pedal steel player (who doubled on electric) mixed well, but in general the problem was that it was too loud. They had a whole damn sold-out amphitheater to blast, and they were concentrating on that so much that the overall affect was muddy.
The same thing was true of TTB's sound to an extent. The individual band members sometimes did not come across as crisply as I would have liked. But whatever, they are such a delight it's incredible, and every one of them turned in a distinctive performance. Probably the part of their act that will stick with me the longest is Susan and Alicia duetting on Dolly Parton's Wildflowers. I was also very impressed with the new guy, Emmanuel Echem, and the drumming by Eady and Tyler Greenwell was beyond excellent. They played one very long set (two hours):
- Don't Let Me Slide
- Ain't That Something
- I Want More
- Willie the Pimp (Frank Zappa)
- Who Am I
- They Don't Shine
- You Can Make It If You Try > Everyday People (Sly & the Family Stone)
- Wildflowers (Dolly Parton)
- Hero
- What in the World
- More and More (Little Milton)
- [Isaac/Kebbi Jam]
- Let Me Get By
- Just Won't Burn
- Loving Cup (Rolling Stones)
- Leaving Trunk (Sleepy John Estes)
- Isn't It a Pity (George Harrison)
- Ohio (Neil Young)
- I Walk on Gilded Splinters (Dr. John)
- Beck's Bolero (Jeff Beck)
They played some of their great originals, but in all this was a very cover-heavy set, and the only song from their new album was one of the weakest tracks on it, Hero!?! Oh well, they have such a huge repertoire and whatever they want to play, I want to hear it.
And the thing is, we had a very good opener, but when a band like this comes on and their 12 top-notch musicians go into a song like Don't Let Me Slide, the feeling that comes over me is just so amazing. Their sound, though not as awesome as it could have been, goes all through me and makes me vibrate ... going out to a big concert can be such a hassle, and there were plenty of chompers mixed in with the serious concert goers a band like this attracts, but it was all worth it and I'll do it again and again, I hope.
As I say, it was a very long set and old me was getting a little tired at the end. But the highlights and surprises just kept coming, like Everyday People, Let Me Get By, the Stones' Loving Cup, and George Harrison's Isn't It a Pity. But the end of the set was even better, with an amazing, angry cover of Neil Young's Ohio (what a timely song, 56 years after it was written), and then a fantastic cover of Dr. John's best song.
Wow, that was exhausting! They took a good break before the encore, but then came back out with Lukas and most of his band and did a couple more great covers: Helpless from CSN&Y (with Lukas doing a fine duet with Susan) and then the Beatles' With a Little Help From My Friends, that Joe Cocker had so famously covered.
What a concert! We finally made it back to the car through thousands of amazed people, and then not too long a wait before we got out of the lot. Luckily it was just a short drive back to the Fireside Suites, and they hadn't yet locked the outside door to the wing we were in. BTW, we had a very nice room at the hotel and the grab-n-go breakfast the next morning was acceptable.
