Guest Book

A fun Derek Trucks Band show last night in Atlanta. It was great to see so many familiar faces from here, again! (including PatCrenshaw in long pants!) Nice opening set by Col Bruce's band that included sit-ins by Jimmy Herring and Ike Stubblefield. dTb show started at 9:48 and went for 2 hours 5 mins. After a nice Sweet Inspiration (with great harmonies by Count M), the first 30 didn't really grab me. Then things really took off... We got an excellent Ka-Ma-Lay with great percussion and tone by Derek. Susan came out and they killed I'd Rather Be Blind by Etta James (I couldn't pin down the song origin & got an assist from Neal). It was worth the price of admission alone! I mean spine tingling good. Jimmy Herring came out for a while and you know the chemistry between Derek & JH. They even segued into some Hendrix at one point with Yonrico singing. They did Afro Blue sans guests and an extended Joyful Noise was the set closer. The encore was a raucous Leaving Trunk (but it did kind of drag out as they "broke it down" did the funky keys, slow guitar and jammed it out...it was actually a perfect moment for a killer 4 minute in your face romp of an encore as there had been similar jams already). We also had Duane Trucks guest on 2nd drum kit for a while, along with anther drummer I didn't get the name of. Ike Stubblefield was on stage a couple times and he always makes things better. As odd as this will sound, from where we were sitting on the risers near the back (not far from the board), Derek was up too high in the mix, except during the guest heavy middle of the show where they seemed to bring him down. His rhythm guitar at times would compete too much with the other players when they were singing or soloing. Not terrible but he could have been lower.....Neal said "better too high, than too low!" I will say that when I went to the balcony, the sound/mix was more to my liking. Overall though, it was another very good show. I expect even more fireworks tonight. See you there!