ROCKTIME PRESENTS
DEREK TRUCKS BAND
AT
THE FILLMORE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.
2/27/03
Well, this show was way better than I expected, I'd say freakin' FAN-tastic. It all started with this great opening act, Tony Furtado and the American Gypsy Band. Tony had a beautiful guitar collection that he was putting to full use. He had two rare old Martin guitars, a Gibson Les Paul, and a Gibson banjo with some miles on it. These Martin guitars were so old that one had the label completely worn off, it probably was the house guitar at some juke joint through the 20's and 30's. Tony is a bay area native, but shamefully admitted that he had never been inside the Fillmore until this grand night. He said he was way to busy picking on the banjo when he was growing up to be able to see other people playing music. Well, he missed out on a lot of groovy shows, but his playing was primo. Talent like that it comes at a price to say the least, let's just hope Tony didn't strike a deal down at the crossroads. A prideful bluesman on his own merits, Tony also played some fine tunes on his banjo that were sounding very fresh and new. He awed the crowd with his ripping blues style playing some smoking hot music on the Les Paul that blew the crowd away. I was most impressed with his shining slide guitarwork on his two old Martin guitars, leaving me with the impression that the second half of his set was the best part. The band he was fronting was awesome too, a gathering of musicians that have worked with bands such as The String Cheese Incident and Melvin Seals Melting Pot.The horn player was unreal, he was even invited to sit in with Derek Trucks Band.Derek Trucks is a rising star on fire! Watch out, folks, it's going to get red hot in here. The place seemed almost empty as the opening act came on stage, but by the time Derek Trucks Band came out, the place was standing room only. The event came close to selling out, I'm sure of that. Most likely due to a rumor that had been recently circulating that Phil Lesh was going to show up, but there was still plenty of tickets still available the night of the show. These rumors are so often made up to encourage ticket sales of poorly sold shows, but on this night it was true. The crowd up front made a small exclamation as Phil walked on stage to plug in his bass guitar and queued up it to play a couple of songs with Derek Trucks Band. His presence went largely unnoticed I believe, but a quiet whisper circled the room to clue in those who had not been looking at the stage. Derek Trucks came out with his band and the venue was loosely packed with heads refraining from their usual rituals until the lights dimmed. The lights went down as Derek and company busted out some good old southern fried funky rock and roll. The second song, "Preachin' Blue" was out of sight, it sounded like something straight from the Hendrix catalogue. I think it is really an old blues number from the thirties called "Preaching Blues," Derek dropped a bomb into this song by playing it with these explosive Hendrix style licks. The third song was sounding much more like what I had expected, like an Allman Brothers Band tune.
It was an amazing show and Derek pulled out all the stops, playing some incredible slide guitar. The drummer was off the charts, an incredibly powerful performance from behind the kit. Phil Lesh came out on stage and the crowd went nutso, everyone knew he was here by this point in time. "Dreams," by Greg Allman was the chosen song for the special guest star. The set list is from the drummer, so I believe it is accurate, except for the next song that they played which was "Franklin's Tower." Phil sung it, and the moment was brilliant and certainly by far the highlight of the show. The whole show was awesome, when you see Derek Trucks playing with the Allman Brothers Band you can tell there is more there than meets the eye. Bottom line being he's got licks of his own that are itching to get out. One fan at the show said something like, "Oh, the Allman Brothers can't contain all the energy coming from this guy." I have to agree with him, the show was sounding so different and unique. Derek Trucks has a sound like no other when he plays his own show, if you get the chance don't miss this act. They did this one swinging blues tune that sounded like something Jerry Garcia Band would have played, I'm pretty sure it was the first encore "Going Down Slow." The show left me wanting to see the last night on the tour, more bang for the buck than I even expected. Thanks for reading and we'll see ya at the shows.
NICK RUNNING
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