Guest Book

Hey everyone! It's Friday morning after two great ABB shows in Chicago. Looking forward to the 3rd. I taped both nights so far, and I'm listening to them now. What can I say? I cannot in anyway understand any negative comments anyone can say about this band in it's current form. After seeing them several times every year for the past ten years, I for one am LOVING the new material. I hear a lot of negative things about some these tunes. And well, I love them all. At any rate, I've been extremely impressed with the live mix and I took the time to tell the sound guys last night. Although I personally loved it, I left the first night feeling that it was kind of "weird". I assumed it was because of the amount of new material, but it wasn't until the second night that I realized, at least from where I was sitting, the crowd wasn't it's usual crazy self! That's alright though, it didn't slow the band down any. From the opening notes of "Midnight Rider", the mix was perfect. I must say Gregg is sounding better than ever. He really nailed some of the harder songs like "Good Clean Fun". In fact the band came out full power in the second set with "Dreams", "Good Clean Fun" & "Rocking Horse". "Rocking Horse" had to be the definitive version. It's going to be hard for them to top that version. It's great to hear how all the new material has progressed. There's a new riff in "The High Cost of Low Living" that wasn't there the last time I heard it. Great show. The second night, there was definately a step up in energy, especially as far as the crowd goes. But the set list called for more energy, so there you have it. I'm still listening to the first show, so I don't have the EXACT set list for the second night, but I do know that the show opened with "Hot 'Lanta", "Done Somebody Wrong" & "Who to Believe". "You Don't Love Me", "Woman Across the River", "End of the Line" & "Old Before My Time" were also featured in the first set. We got the new instrumental again, the first night it was a full-fledged version complete with percussion & bass breaks, the second night it was abridged to just give the form of the song. The second set came out rocking with "Black-Hearted Woman". They also played "All Night Train", "No One to Run With", "Worried Down with the Blues" an amazingly beautiful "Please Call Home" that segued right into "Stand Back". One of the best versions of "The Same Thing" I have EVER heard in my life. And the set closed with "Rocking Horse" segued into only the second "Mountain Jam" played in Chicago since the band's rebirth in 1989 and it was A MONSTER. The encore was "Revival". After all these years this band is still giving their all. EVERYONE in the band was so into it 2 nights in a row and making some of the BEST music in the world.