The Black Crowes: Shake Your Moneymaker

My buddy Chris and I went to go see the Black Crowes last night as part of their current tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album Shake Your Moneymaker.

They played the whole album last night from start to finish!

The Black Crowes: Shake Your Moneymaker

Fun show. 

I gotta say, though, that I didn't realize that the Black Crowes are really a chic band. We must've seen more mothers with their daughters at this show than I've ever seen at any other concert. And later, when the band hit the stage, I turned around to look back up at the crowd, and it was a just this *massive* wall of women of all ages dancing in the aisles, rocking out to Shake Your Moneymaker.

This was not an unwelcome sight or anything, but it was certainly unlooked-for. I think of the Crowes as this hard-rocking southern rock band from the tail end of rock 'n' roll's heyday. However, I clearly missed some of their -- rather substantial -- feminine appeal. This was that rare rock show where the women dragged their husbands out to watch the band, and it gave the whole atmosphere a rather unique appeal.

We got out to the show super-early. Chris and I hit the gym early yesterday afternoon, crashed at the house for a little while, and then caught a train to Bridgeport a little before 6 pm. The show had a scheduled 8 pm start with gates opening at 6:30, so my plan was to hit Brewport, drink some beers, and then head on over to the venue. Alas, everyone else in Southwest Connecticut also seemed to have this plan such that by the time we got to the bar, it was already packed well past standing-room only. We got there just after 6 and couldn't even get in the front door. The hostesses were literally turning people away from the biergarten.

Sigh.

So we walked back over to the venue, headed through the gates just as they opened, and grabbed a few beers there. This was by no means the cheapest way of drinking, but it got the job done, and luckily, the arena had a wide selection of breweries represented as well as a small collection of food trucks parked off to one side of the stage. And anyway, you drink enough beer, and that's practically a meal. So we split some Parmesan truffle fries -- yes, this is Coastal Connecticut -- and some street tacos, and that worked out just fine. We also had beer from the Bad Sons brewery, Two Roads, and Blue Point. Chris particularly liked Blue Point's Imperial Sunshine while I myself have a soft spot for Bad Sons' Doobious hazy IPA.

Food trucks at the arena

I've seen a decent number of concerts lately, and I couldn't help but notice that the Crowes are a good bit younger than a lot of my more recent favorites have been. Sally and I are, for example, going to see Jackson Browne in a couple of weeks. And yeah, Browne is great, but he sure as Hell isn't young. The Crowes, though, are maybe in the mid- to late-50s. They're not young, either, but they're definitely still in their prime as musicians and performers. Which is good because lately I've started worrying that all our favorites are going to die off in the next ten to fifteen year, and then where will we be? 

I mean, yeah, you can still see the Beach Boys and Earth, Wind, and Fire, but how many of the actual originals are still out there? How many are even still alive? Sally and I saw Foreigner last year, and it was great, but the current incarnation of the band has no one from the original act still touring. When you go see Foreigner nowadays, you're really just seeing the officially licensed cover band presented by Foreigner, Inc.

The Black Crowes, at least, are still the guys you heard on the radio back in the day. And hey, they might also be here for a while... hopefully.

Howlin' Rain opened last night's show.

I've been looking for new bands of late for this exact reason. Recent favorites include The War On Drugs as well as last night's opening band, Howlin' Rain. But Howlin' Rain is a (relatively) local band that didn't even introduce themselves last night, and if The War on Drugs is a little bigger, well, they're still not about to start playing outdoor arena shows. At least, not in Connecticut. So I still feel like I need to find some new bands to follow, even if half the problem exists via the structure of modern radio. None of the acts that I like lately are getting anything like the kind of airplay that would allow them to build a legit national following. Hell, it's like the whole music industry doesn't remember how to build stars out of actual musicians. The record companies are all stuck on these starlets that're 50% musician and 50% shake-your-ass fitness model. Speaking personally, this is not what I'm looking for.

Where are we going to be with this in another fifteen years? I honestly have no idea.

For now, at least, we still have shows to go to and actual rock bands to see. That's gonna have to be enough, and we'll just let tomorrow take care of itself.