THE BLACK CROWES

Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC, NY
March 27, 2005

Easter Sunday! One of the holiest days on the Christian calendar; A day for families to get together and celebrate the resurrection of Christ by painting and hiding hard boiled eggs, gulping down mounds of chocolate while all the time paying homage to an invisible bunny! Weird… for some reason I can’t recall a bunny ever being mentioned in the bible!?! Never quite got the connection there but hey, that’s just me.

Anyway, I guess I should be getting my ass to church! Only this year, the church itself is the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and the service I am going to be attending is a concert celebrating a different kind of resurrection… the rebirth of the long defunct BLACK CROWES.

Now I must admit I wasn’t too crazy about the idea at first. I was never really much of a BLACK CROWES fan and, if you happened to read my BUTCH WALKER review, you know how much I “love” venturing into the city. But, my girlfriend and one of my best friends were huge fans and they’ve suffered with me through shows they weren’t too crazy about seeing so I figured I’d give it a shot. Let me tell ya… I was wrong and it didn’t take me long to realize this was going to be something special.

When the lights finally dimmed around 9:15pm, the capacity crowd erupted welcoming the BLACK CROWES back into the spotlight. It’s been nearly four years since the last time, these songs were heard, but these fans didn’t forget. Underneath the flickering candlelight, which gave the Hammerstein an almost “cathedral-like” feel, the band took their marks. The lights came up to reveal a very Jesus-looking Chris Robinson completely clad in white, as was the rest of the band, and they immediately burst into a CROWES favorite, “Stare It Cold.”

Fittingly this Easter Sunday, the next song was “Go Tell the Congregation” which really set the tone for the entire evening. These guys can play - front man Chris Robinson gave a stellar performance that electrified the crowd all night long. His vocals, stage presence, and overall persona really make this band special and exuberated the live show in a way that you could never fully appreciate from just listening to a CD.

Guitarists Marc Ford and Rich Robinson were “really on” this particular evening and without any searing guitar solos or being pushed into the spotlight; these guys dueled back and forth on song after song after song. Their precise and bluesy rhythms pack a powerful “one/two” punch which any true music lover can appreciate.

While the rhythm section of bassist Sven Pipien and drummer Bill Dobrow tightened up the arrangements, I can’t forget to mention keyboardist Eddie Hawrysh whose fills and intros echoed through the venue felicitating the music throughout the evening. Without their unique styling, I really don’t think this band would sound as solid as they did. This is a great band and while it may sometimes seem that vocalist Chris Robinson gets focused on in the media just a “little” bit more, the BLACK CROWES are a tight unit who work well with and complement each other in every way.

As the evening pressed on, the crowd was witness to CROWES classics like “My Morning Song,” “Greasy Grass River,” “Seeing Things,” “Space Captain,” “She Gave Good Sunflower,” “Coming Home,” “How Much For Your Wings?” and “No Speak No Slave” which they ended their regular set with. Other highlights included an incredible rendition of “Soul Singing” and, towards the end of the set, crowd favorites like “Twice as Hard” and “Jealous Again” raised the roof. Then the band settled down for the evening, taking their final bows with the BLACK CROWES' classic “She Talks to Angels” and a cover of THE BEATLES’ “Yer Blues” from “ The White Album.”

What initially started as just a few select shows has already turned into an all out reunion tour; not only are the BLACK CROWES spending the next couple of months headlining their OWN tour, but starting in June, they will be out on the road with TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS for most of the summer. All the dates can be viewed at the official BLACK CROWES website at http://www.blackcrowes.com/ . So if you get a chance, don’t miss them! The BLACK CROWES are a tremendous live band and really made a believer and fan out of me.

Official BLACK CROWES website: http://www.blackcrowes.com/