Paradise, Boston, 3/13/13

[Kevidently]

I don't know. I've now been to a dozen shows, and last night lodged itself in the top 3 for me. I brought a newbie and he is fully converted. I haven't noticed any "not good" with Matt Patton, but I'm not as versed in bass playing - I thought both him and Jay were awesome last night. In my opinion, just a balls-out fantastic show from start to finish. And I got my "Sandwiches For the Road."

[bnzz]

Diggin that setlist! Nice!

[dfw2010]

I’d say it was a pretty great show. Definitely more fun than the last two shows at the House of Blues. I liked the line up with Matt on bass and Jay splitting time between keys and guitar. Jay is defiantly a keyboard player who also plays guitar, but he did just fine. I’m sure as time goes by he’ll polish his chops a bit. He was pretty low in the mix, which may have something to do with what I was hearing. Matt certainly looked like he was having a good time and seemed more than proficient to me. Overall, I was a little nervous about what to expect and left a very happy camper. Loved the set list.

[Markalanbishop]

Good show. Not great, but good, maybe very good. I wish I had gone to another show so I could have a comparison for this current incarnation of the Truckers.

Steve, your friend that said they are mailing it in - no idea what he was talking about. The band put all their effort into putting on a rock show. And it was a rock show, no doubt about it.

But... a couple of things.

I like Jay a lot - good guy, good musician. Contrary to BTB's comments, he is a keyboard player playing guitar. I think the Truckers need to fill that Neff slot. Has someone called Jon Graboff? There is something missing up there and Jay is not the answer *right now*. Maybe he can be, but at the moment... jury is still out. They do need to take the whammy bar off his guitar - he relies on too much to get the sound he is looking for.

Lastly, Matt is not doing a great job, some songs it is more noticeable than others. He is following the beat instead of driving it. Brad is definitely carrying more of the load than Matt. I'll have to go back and listen to a few more recent shows to see if it is happening there too. Sometimes, he is just a hair *behind* the beat instead of pounding through it with Brad. Maybe I'm being critical, but that is what I heard last night.

That being said, I was thinking about going again tonight. DBT still puts on a good show and I'm looking forward to seeing them again, in whatever incarnation that is. I just hope it is with Jay on keys and Matt is better in tune with Brad.

Actually, if you read Jay's interview posted here some time back, you will discovery that while he took piano lessons from an early age, he was a "guitar performances" major at SUNY. Jay says he always played bass and guitar and that he joined DBT when they were looking for someone to cover Spooner's keyboard parts. I'm guessing here, but I think his first love is guitar. Which is good, because he's a fucking awesome guitarist.

[beantownbubba]

"It seems like Jay is turning into a guitarist who also plays keys rather than the keyboard guy who also plays guitar. I'm pretty sure this is the most guitar he's played since the big change."

Geez a guy's gotta be awfully careful about what (and how) he says around here lately. All I was intending to say is that Jay seems to be playing progressively more guitar and less keyboards as the tour goes on. It was not a comment on his training, style or proficiency.

Not to switch subjects or anything, but i thought Jay's organ sound on "Pin" was practically ethereal.

I couldn't say why, but last night's version of "Marry Me" was a cut, maybe 2 cuts, above on a song that's almost always a highlight anyway. The thing just smoked from start to finish. I'm not a huge fan of "GG Allin" but last nite's version was the best I've heard and I really enjoyed it. I think it was on "Play It All Night Long" that the intro had the guitar riff from CSN&Y's "Ohio." That caught our attention where i was standing "Women Without Whiskey" has been sounding especially great to me ever since January in Athens and last nite was no exception.

As I said the other night, I love the "Birthday Boy"/"Girls Who Smoke" start to the encore.

I think the band is doing a really good (not perfect but really good and still working it) job playing w/ the arrangements to emphasize this band's strengths and work around the holes left by Neff. And while they're doing that, they still put on a hell of a rock show.

And I get to do it again tonight. Life could be worse (as it will be tomorrow when I will once again have no rock shows to look forward to).

[vanark]

I think the band is doing a really good (not perfect but really good and still working it) job playing w/ the arrangements to emphasize this band's strengths and work around the holes left by Neff. And while they're doing that, they still put on a hell of a rock show.

I agree with this, btb, and hope it wasn't lost in my comments.

[javamyth]

It was a Mike Cooley Show last night right out of the box with Devil Don't Stay. He nailed everything he played, and brought his A-game all night. Sounds Better In the Song was an unexpected and welcome surprise. I was hoping for some bust outs after a few days off the road. The GG Allen story was a hoot to hear, Patterson is such a natural story teller. Overall a really rocking show, started out really strong and ended really strong.

p.s. Shawn Thornton was there pumping his fist to Let There Be Rock

[dbtfan4life]

Looks like a killer fucking set list, ready for a rock show in chattanooga or knoxville

[vanark]

Audio recording: http://archive.org/details/dbt2013-03-13.akg483.flac16

[ballsdeep]

Good show. Not great, but good, maybe very good. I wish I had gone to another show so I could have a comparison for this current incarnation of the Truckers.

Steve, your friend that said they are mailing it in - no idea what he was talking about. The band put all their effort into putting on a rock show. And it was a rock show, no doubt about it.

But... a couple of things.

I like Jay a lot - good guy, good musician. Contrary to BTB's comments, he is a keyboard player playing guitar. I think the Truckers need to fill that Neff slot. Has someone called Jon Graboff? There is something missing up there and Jay is not the answer *right now*. Maybe he can be, but at the moment... jury is still out. They do need to take the whammy bar off his guitar - he relies on too much to get the sound he is looking for.

Lastly, Matt is not doing a great job, some songs it is more noticeable than others. He is following the beat instead of driving it. Brad is definitely carrying more of the load than Matt. I'll have to go back and listen to a few more recent shows to see if it is happening there too. Sometimes, he is just a hair *behind* the beat instead of pounding through it with Brad. Maybe I'm being critical, but that is what I heard last night.

That being said, I was thinking about going again tonight. DBT still puts on a good show and I'm looking forward to seeing them again, in whatever incarnation that is. I just hope it is with Jay on keys and Matt is better in tune with Brad.

I actually had two friends, both guys, who said they were mailing it in, one from Missouri, and one from Maine.

lest I get accused of being a "negative nancy" (I do find it funny that from my OG post, many of those comments are attributed to me, though I didn't say them), here's Maureen from Boston, her review was much more glowing....but then again, she's a chick (haha, did she post it here already, not sure, I didn't scroll)

yes, from a Crowes board, so there are references:

Thanks, everyone. I had a great time last night. Before I get to my review, I just feel like this has to be said...

I had my ticket, a new tshirt, a window sticker for my back windshield, and 3 PBRs (talls!) for LESS than the cost of JUST my ticket to the Boston Crowes show next month. I'm not complaining, not really. I just find it funny that the Truckers find a way to bring their music to their fans at a reasonable price, but the Crowes play bigger venues, to more fans each night, and ticket prices are more than double. Anyway, that being said...

Last night was fantastic. The show was everything I had hoped for. I was a little concerned, what with Shonna and John both leaving, and I never really got over Jason not being in the band anymore. But the new guys, Jay Gonzalez and the bass dude (Patterson introduced him, but i didnt hear him clearly) were pretty rad. I loved how Jay jumped back and forth from guitar to keys.

The show opened with Devil Don't Stay. It always works for me when they open with a Cooley song. I could watch that guy play and sing for hours. (Allow me to be a girl here, and say I think his long hair is dreamy and each time I see the DBT, I'm reminded why he's on my "free pass" list...*sigh*) Anyway, they switched off singing, as they usually do, Cooley then Patterson and back and forth. I can't remember the set list in order, but I know they played Sandwiches for the Road, Used to be a Cop, Lookout Mountain, Pin Hits Shell, Marry Me, Women Without Whiskey, Sounds Better in the Song, Self-Destructive Zones, GG Allin, Play It All Night Long (which the guy next to me told me was a Warren Zevon song...I knew I'd heard it before, but they made it their own, and Patterson sang the hell out of it.) Heathens, Ghost To Most...there were more in the main set, that escape me right now, but they ended the main set with Hell No, I Ain't Happy, which is a perfect way to close the show, imo. I love that they play such nice long encores, because so many of the posers in the audience (more on that later) took off right after the band left the stage for the first time. Since I was flying solo for the show, I was able to move myself right up close, about 3 people deep in front of Cooley. They then proceeded to rip through Birthday Boy, Girls Who Smoke (1st time I'd heard this one live, it ruled), Zip City...I'd have been satisfied if they left after this, but nope, they kept on playing! Next up was Let There Be Rock...this one is their version of Remedy for me, the one that I could do without hearing ever again, and that all the annoying frat boys and businessmen in Oxford shirts and khakis go crazy for. But Patterson keeps it interesting by always injecting some little narrative into the song. Last night's version was dedicated to his dad, who is playing SXSW as we speak at the age of 69(!). Very cool. I felt sure that that would be IT, I mean, come on, four song encore? But then we still got Shut Up and... And the perfect topper for the night, and one that showed who the real fans were, Angels and muthafuckin Fuselage...one of my all-time favorite Patterson songs. They killed it too, Patterson dropping to his knees, sweat flinging from his hair, lookin like he was ready to pass out. Awesome.

I sometimes cringe at shows in Boston. It amazes me that a city with such a rich musical history can contain such an ignorant, shallow, irritating concert-going population. Of course, I understand that the Paradise is technically on the campus of BU, and also in a rather yuppie-centric part of the city, but I just wish that I would go to some of these shows and find myself surrounded by like-minded people, who want to chill, rock out, and respect the band onstage. It's no secret that DBT shows tend to have a prevailing male audience. I didn't see one group of girls last night, and certainly not any other solo chicks like me. The only women in the joint were there on the arm of some guy. They were, for the most part, 20s-ish, with skinny jeans and ironic, fake Buddy Holly eyeglasses, with their cell phones seemingly growing out of their palms. They gave no sign of life to the performers onstage, leaving pockets of the room that had zero life, during an unbelievably rocking evening. Or worse yet, during quiet moments, when Patterson was talking, to continue to talk over him to their equally annoying friend-clone. Then there were the guys in their 40s-50s who clearly came directly from the office, and were just so jazzed to have a Wednesday night away from their wife, that they felt the need to pound the Bud Lights to the point that they were only capable of communicating via differing levels of "wooooooo!" The older I get, the less tolerant I am of people in general, and general admission shows present all kinds of issues for me. I've got a slight phobia of being touched by strangers in a crowd, and being there alone forced me to keep a lid on my mouth more than usual. I ended up leaving when the show was over, wishing I could have apologized on behalf of my city, wishing I could let the band know that there were actually people there for the music, and not just so they could check-in on Facebook to show all their friends how hip and edgy they are.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, and I feel blessed to have been there. The one thing that was a bit of a drag, but hardly even worth mentioning (but i will since Ive already written this much) was that this Jay Gonzalez has a bit of a heavy hand on the keys. There were a handful of moments where the keys were clearly meant to be front and center and JG took it a bit over the top and it ended up sounding overly sharp. I attributed it to his being overly earnest, other than a few bad notes, I thought he was great. Cooley added a nice little slide solo at the end of Heathens that I've never heard before and it was classic. I've never ever been let down by a Truckers show, and they've set the bar very fucking high for the 5 TBC shows I've already bought tickets for next month. The chemistry between Cooley and Patterson is undeniable, sometimes it would be easier for me to believe those 2 are brothers instead of CR and RR.

[RolanK]

Lastly, Matt is not doing a great job, some songs it is more noticeable than others. He is following the beat instead of driving it. Brad is definitely carrying more of the load than Matt. I'll have to go back and listen to a few more recent shows to see if it is happening there too. Sometimes, he is just a hair *behind* the beat instead of pounding through it with Brad. Maybe I'm being critical, but that is what I heard last night.

Strange, because my impression is the exact opposite. Haven't had the time to hear through the recording from this show yet, but from recordings of previous shows and the three I caught live in Athens in January, my impression is that he stays very much on top of the groove. Imo he is an excellent bass player.

[ramonz]

Hmmm....

http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/59311/drive-by-truckers.html

http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x632812332/Drive-By-Truckers-rock-Boston

http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/concertreview.asp?xid=738

[Clams]

Hmmm....

http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/59311/drive-by-truckers.html

http://www.patriotledger.com/entertainment/x632812332/Drive-By-Truckers-rock-Boston

http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/concertreview.asp?xid=738

Thanks Ramonz, those are some interesting reviews - including what i think is a pretty decent review by Mr. deep's Crowes girlfriend (though she needs to chill on her obnoxious audience review). Mr. deep, it looks like your two friends mentioned in the other thread are in the minority.

[tinnitus photography]

fuck that Maureen woman, she's an idiot.

[beantownbubba]

Thanks, Ramonz. Enjoyed those. All new to me writers/reviewers.

[tinnitus photography]

btw, how the hell does the band have such seamless flow w/ no set list? are there some hand signals involved? or do they all have really good short term memories?


i thought the re-working of Sounds Better In The Song was one of the highlights of the night.

[beantownbubba]

btw, how the hell does the band have such seamless flow w/ no set list? are there some hand signals involved? or do they all have really good short term memories?


i thought the re-working of Sounds Better In The Song was one of the highlights of the night.

I wonder about this every time i see a show. Occasionally you'll see Patterson or Cooley call it out and the others pass it along, but mostly it seems they just pick it up off the first couple of chords/notes played by that song's leader. Seems totally crazy but they get it right almost every time. I'd definitely believe that there's something more going on but if so, I've never been able to figure it out.

[Jonicont]

Cooley has the 3 finger salute for 3DD and one for another song but I can't remember which one

[Tequila Cowboy]

Cooley has the 3 finger salute for 3DD and one for another song but I can't remember which one

Self Destructive Zones I think. Finger to the head?

[cortez the killer]

fuck that Maureen woman, she's an idiot.

She get mad at you for your drunken grinding?

[litdimly]

TC, you’re right about SDZ – I misread the signal once for When the Pin Hits the Shell.
At The Tabernacle in ATL, Patterson began the story about Gregory Dean Smalley and Matt gave Cooley a “What’s coming up?” look (he could have asked anyone in the first few rows). Cooley’s lips responded, “Living Bubba.” Matt squinted and leaned forward as if so ask “What? Which?” and Cooley said it again. Matt still didn’t hear him and Cooley appeared to say “Just wait” as if to say “you know it, it’ll be OK.” Still amazes me how he stepped in. That’s why he’s a professional musician and I can barely play an iPod.

Thanks all (or most all) for the write-ups on the NE shows. Yet again, I've allowed a fear-based decision to cause me to miss out - there's a Cooley quote for that.

[CooleyGirl]

Cooley has the 3 finger salute for 3DD and one for another song but I can't remember which one

Self Destructive Zones I think. Finger to the head?

Yes, SDZ is a gun shaped finger and thumb to the head.

Birthday Boy is a triangle shape on top of the head.

I feel like I'm stealing baseball signs when I'm up front, pretty funny. Mainly they either shout the name of the song to each other or just start playing it, but there are signs here and there.

[CooleyGirl]

Whoa. Just whoa.

That sums it up.

I'm not sure if I had more fun watching the band, or watching you, Kevidently. I think you spent the whole show with your jaw on the ground. It was really fun to see you do that, and I'm so excited you got to hear Sandwiches for the Road.

Contrary to other posts in this thread, there were lots of women at this show who weren't ignoring the band or on the arm of some dude, including myself and quite a number of female friends. I enjoyed rocking out, singing along to every song.

[Lone Wolf1]

fuck that Maureen woman, she's an idiot.

most reviewers/critics are.

[tinnitus photography]

fuck that Maureen woman, she's an idiot.

most reviewers/critics are.

well everyone's a critic, right? i didn't get the impression that she was a journalist working for some website, just that it was a fan review posted to the Black Crowes board.


but calling that section of town 'uppity' was funny. maybe she saw too many BU students driving around in Porsches and BMWs.

[tinnitus photography]

fuck that Maureen woman, she's an idiot.

She get mad at you for your drunken grinding?

[vanark]

BU is on spring break - I don't know how many students were actually around.

[rlipps]

Cooley has the 3 finger salute for 3DD and one for another song but I can't remember which one

I've seen him give the "devil-horns" signal for Where the Devil Don't Stay

[WSPDBT]

yes, from a Crowes board, so there are references:

Thanks, everyone. I had a great time last night. Before I get to my review, I just feel like this has to be said...

I had my ticket, a new tshirt, a window sticker for my back windshield, and 3 PBRs (talls!) for LESS than the cost of JUST my ticket to the Boston Crowes show next month. I'm not complaining, not really. I just find it funny that the Truckers find a way to bring their music to their fans at a reasonable price, but the Crowes play bigger venues, to more fans each night, and ticket prices are more than double. Anyway, that being said...

Last night was fantastic. The show was everything I had hoped for. I was a little concerned, what with Shonna and John both leaving, and I never really got over Jason not being in the band anymore. But the new guys, Jay Gonzalez and the bass dude (Patterson introduced him, but i didnt hear him clearly) were pretty rad. I loved how Jay jumped back and forth from guitar to keys.

The show opened with Devil Don't Stay. It always works for me when they open with a Cooley song. I could watch that guy play and sing for hours. (Allow me to be a girl here, and say I think his long hair is dreamy and each time I see the DBT, I'm reminded why he's on my "free pass" list...*sigh*) Anyway, they switched off singing, as they usually do, Cooley then Patterson and back and forth. I can't remember the set list in order, but I know they played Sandwiches for the Road, Used to be a Cop, Lookout Mountain, Pin Hits Shell, Marry Me, Women Without Whiskey, Sounds Better in the Song, Self-Destructive Zones, GG Allin, Play It All Night Long (which the guy next to me told me was a Warren Zevon song...I knew I'd heard it before, but they made it their own, and Patterson sang the hell out of it.) Heathens, Ghost To Most...there were more in the main set, that escape me right now, but they ended the main set with Hell No, I Ain't Happy, which is a perfect way to close the show, imo. I love that they play such nice long encores, because so many of the posers in the audience (more on that later) took off right after the band left the stage for the first time. Since I was flying solo for the show, I was able to move myself right up close, about 3 people deep in front of Cooley. They then proceeded to rip through Birthday Boy, Girls Who Smoke (1st time I'd heard this one live, it ruled), Zip City...I'd have been satisfied if they left after this, but nope, they kept on playing! Next up was Let There Be Rock...this one is their version of Remedy for me, the one that I could do without hearing ever again, and that all the annoying frat boys and businessmen in Oxford shirts and khakis go crazy for. But Patterson keeps it interesting by always injecting some little narrative into the song. Last night's version was dedicated to his dad, who is playing SXSW as we speak at the age of 69(!). Very cool. I felt sure that that would be IT, I mean, come on, four song encore? But then we still got Shut Up and... And the perfect topper for the night, and one that showed who the real fans were, Angels and muthafuckin Fuselage...one of my all-time favorite Patterson songs. They killed it too, Patterson dropping to his knees, sweat flinging from his hair, lookin like he was ready to pass out. Awesome.

I sometimes cringe at shows in Boston. It amazes me that a city with such a rich musical history can contain such an ignorant, shallow, irritating concert-going population. Of course, I understand that the Paradise is technically on the campus of BU, and also in a rather yuppie-centric part of the city, but I just wish that I would go to some of these shows and find myself surrounded by like-minded people, who want to chill, rock out, and respect the band onstage. It's no secret that DBT shows tend to have a prevailing male audience. I didn't see one group of girls last night, and certainly not any other solo chicks like me. The only women in the joint were there on the arm of some guy. They were, for the most part, 20s-ish, with skinny jeans and ironic, fake Buddy Holly eyeglasses, with their cell phones seemingly growing out of their palms. They gave no sign of life to the performers onstage, leaving pockets of the room that had zero life, during an unbelievably rocking evening. Or worse yet, during quiet moments, when Patterson was talking, to continue to talk over him to their equally annoying friend-clone. Then there were the guys in their 40s-50s who clearly came directly from the office, and were just so jazzed to have a Wednesday night away from their wife, that they felt the need to pound the Bud Lights to the point that they were only capable of communicating via differing levels of "wooooooo!" The older I get, the less tolerant I am of people in general, and general admission shows present all kinds of issues for me. I've got a slight phobia of being touched by strangers in a crowd, and being there alone forced me to keep a lid on my mouth more than usual. I ended up leaving when the show was over, wishing I could have apologized on behalf of my city, wishing I could let the band know that there were actually people there for the music, and not just so they could check-in on Facebook to show all their friends how hip and edgy they are.

All in all, it was a fantastic night, and I feel blessed to have been there. The one thing that was a bit of a drag, but hardly even worth mentioning (but i will since Ive already written this much) was that this Jay Gonzalez has a bit of a heavy hand on the keys. There were a handful of moments where the keys were clearly meant to be front and center and JG took it a bit over the top and it ended up sounding overly sharp. I attributed it to his being overly earnest, other than a few bad notes, I thought he was great. Cooley added a nice little slide solo at the end of Heathens that I've never heard before and it was classic. I've never ever been let down by a Truckers show, and they've set the bar very fucking high for the 5 TBC shows I've already bought tickets for next month. The chemistry between Cooley and Patterson is undeniable, sometimes it would be easier for me to believe those 2 are brothers instead of CR and RR.

Ok first why does it matter that the review is good and she's a woman?

Second, if you're going to bitch & complain about Black Crowes tickets DON'T BUY THE GOD DAMN TICKET.

I'm growing really tired of you shitting all over the Crowes. If you want to do that, there is a different message board for it. On that board they complain about everything from sound quality to ticket prices. Take your second rate opinions, and overall negative attitude there.

[tinnitus photography]

huh?

i am not sure who you are addressing, but if you don't like the 'second rate' opinions, don't read them. and let me guess...your opinions are first-rate?