Allman Brothers' New Guy Steps Up Articles / Music Posted by Lana on Oct 02, 2001 - 06:24 PM Friday, August 17, 2001 Concert review By Chris Varias Cincinnati Enquirer contributor The old, new guy made his presence felt. Warren Haynes, the Allman Brothers guitarist who left in 1997, is back, replacing Jimmy Herring, who in turn replaced original guitarist Dickey Betts, whom the band sacked. During the Allmans' Wednesday-night show at Riverbend, Mr. Haynes wasn't shy about returning. If the star of the show wasn't head brother Gregg Allman, it was Mr. Haynes, who handled lead vocals several times throughout the night, and whose muscular solos served as climaxes to many of the songs. The show was one sprawling set (with a quickie encore of “Revival”) lasting 2 3/4 hours, in which the band jammed the blues, jammed the blues-rock, jammed the blues-soul covers, and jammed the hippie jams. (By the way, did they do “Revival,” a song by Mr. Betts known for its chorus “People can you feel it? Love is everywhere,” for the sake of irony? Mr. Betts was arrested Saturday for domestic battery.) Mr. Haynes, who handles lead vocals for his Allmans offshoot Gov't Mule, did a good job stepping to the microphone for versions of Willie Dixon's “The Same Thing” and Otis Redding's “I've Been Loving You Too Long to Stop Now.” His guitar solos were always searing, providing a nice balance with Derek Trucks' quieter slide-guitar work. Mr. Haynes was definitely the loudest player, but Mr. Trucks again proved to be the band's understated genius. Mr. Trucks seemed happy to sit back for most of the evening without putting up a challenge to his partner's flashy playing. But the payoff for Derek Trucks-watchers came in the set's last song, a 30-minute rendition of the instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” The song's “jazzy” passages provided the structure for Mr. Trucks to play solos that truly were derived from jazz, if jazz is indeed the sound of surprise. Opener Susan Tedeschi didn't fare as well. With each performance, she smacks more of novelty. She's a fine blues guitarist. But her singing voice sounds a little too much like Bonnie Raitt's, and her reliance on covers — this time around from Sly, Dylan and Marley — only proves she's no songwriter. This article is from Hittin' The Web with The Allman Brothers Band   https://hittintheweb.com/ The URL for this story is:   https://hittintheweb.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=33