Show Review - Soulshine 11/24/24 New York, NY
All-Star Hurricane Relief Benefit
Last night at Madison Square Garden, an all-star cast of musicians assembled to raise money to benefit relief efforts for the damage caused by Hurricane Helene and Milton earlier this fall. Spearheaded by Warren Haynes as a makeup for the cancellation of his annual Christmas Jam in Asheville, the nearly five-hour concert brought together collaborations both familiar and unique alongside standout musical performances from the massive roster of musicians.
After a short video featuring Haynes speaking on the devastation in North Carolina, he and Dave Matthews began the music with a fitting acoustic rendition of “Soulshine,” which was followed by an introduction to Goose.
With 35 minutes AND a stacked lineup of sit-ins waiting in the wings, the Connecticut quintet made the most of their first time playing the World’s Most Famous Arena, packing an impressive display of their own songs alongside cover choices and memorable sit-ins.
There was no way they were going to miss the chance to blow up such a legendary room with “Arcadia,” and the fiery performance got treated to a quick jaunt into the memorable Buffalo chord progression (see 11/16/19) before hitting an explosive peak that was received with great cheers from the packed house – both longtime fans and new.
Peter Anspach welcomed Robert Randolph to the stage on pedal steel as the band hit through “Give It Time,” perhaps 2024’s hardest-hitting original debut augmented by the guest musician’s sliding melodies. This was a perfect choice for a more songwriting-oriented crowd heavy on DMB fans – its poignant and catchy lyrics have and will continue to captivate crowd at every performance. I saw numerous posts on social media today asking about its origins and expressing delight at how good of a song it was.
Guitarist Derek Trucks was welcomed next for “Hungersite,” his distinctive style blending perfectly with guitarist Rick Mitarotonda for the short performance as he blitzed through the soaring guitar solo. This was a moment where I wished that Goose had the ability to go for 25 minutes – and I have no doubt in the future that we will see a lengthy Mitarotonda/Trucks collaboration.
Skipping the jam for the sake of time, Trucks stayed on stage as Susan Tedeschi emerged to sing “Don’t Do It” along with Mitarotonda. While it took until the second verse for both vocalists to lock in their harmonies with each other, from there it was perfect as everyone on stage sported an ear-to-ear grin with the familiar Band cover. Drummer Cotter Ellis, while he had no microphone, sang his heart out behind the kit as his pure joy at playing The Garden emanated through the music.
Goose’s set came to a close with Matthews joining them for “The Way It Is,” the band’s – but especially Mitarotonda’s – joy evident at sharing the stage with one of their musical idols. Matthews himself seemed excited to be sitting there, even letting out an emphatic “GOOOOOOOOSE” after the conclusion of the song.
Tedeschi and Haynes performed a beautiful rendition of “700 Houses” as the stage was quickly turned over to the Warren Haynes Band, who proceeded to keep the energy going with 45 minutes of hard-rocking jams. Wasting no time before keeping the collaborations going, Haynes brought up Trombone Shorty to add to “Man in Motion” and Randolph returned for “This Life As We Know It” before drummer Joe Russo added his incredible flavour to “Shakedown Street.”
Not your average Grateful Dead cover, Haynes being the lone guitar gave it a different feel than normal, plus a cool opening jam let the band stretch out a bit before jumping into the song. Russo then departed as Trucks came back on stage for “These Changes,” the two former Allman Brothers bandmates trading solos with grins and a continuing vibe of community and brotherhood that can only be shared by two people who were in a band together as long as they were.
Russo re-emerged for an absolutely blistering “Whipping Post,” Haynes’ bassist Kevin Scott playing his ass off on the iconic riff before the entire arena blew up with energy, people singing along to the iconic song to bring the Haynes Band set to a close.
A tender and beautiful rendition of “Angel From Montgomery” courtesy of Tedeschi and Matthews led into Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats’ set. While the energy was high for the duration, I found myself thinking that the 45 minutes here would have been better used during Goose or Warren Haynes’ set, especially given that Rateliff performed the majority of the time without inviting guests up – a move that stuck out even more at an event like this and coming on the heels of so many memorable sit-ins.
I will say that Mavis Staples’ appearance with Rateliff on “Friendship” was one of my favourite moments of the night – the legendary vocalist came on stage, sang her heart out, and walked off all without losing a radiant ear-to-ear smile. The closing “S.O.B.” featuring Randolph and Ben Jaffe (on tuba) brought the raucous energy back up to a fever pitch, redeeming the time seemingly lost and restoring the collaborative spirit we had been enjoying earlier.
A lengthy turnover then proceeded to get the DMB rigs all set up before Matthews and Haynes performed a duo of songs as nods to the areas affected by the hurricanes, “Carolina On My Mind” and a Trucks-infused “Southern Accents.”
The guest guitarists then left before the highly anticipated appearance of Trey Anastasio came with a soft “Waste,” a song he and Matthews have been perfecting a duo acoustic arrangement of for over two decades at this point.
All of DMB emerged with the addition of Tedeschi and Rateliff for “The Weight,” conspicuously missing Staples but marking Anastasio’s first performance with the full Dave Matthews Band since his iconic 8/14/07 sit-in at SPAC.
After two full shows at MSG on Friday and Saturday, DMB had the hits left in the tank for the benefit crowd and pulled out classics like “Rapuzel” and “So Much To Say” that energized both those seeing their third show of the weekend and even lots of people who hadn’t seen the band in decades.
Bringing the horn duo of Shorty and Jaffe back, DMB proceeded through their recently-canonized combo of “Jimi Thing” > “Brick House” with standout solos from keyboardist Buddy Strong, guitarist Tim Reynolds, and some excellent horn trading before inviting Anastasio back up for “Lie In Our Graves.”
I was initially of the opinion that the Phish guitarist should never play the song again – it’s been just over 14 years since the fateful SPAC sit-in that was his first live appearance after getting clean and I honestly can’t imagine a guitar solo being played by anyone that could have more emotion and feeling baked into it.
Of course, it’s still a Trey Anastasio solo – and he proceeded to craft an amazing melodic journey over the rhythm set by drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard, bringing the “Graves” to a rousing peak before Matthews led the band through interpolation of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” to wind things down.
Inviting Haynes and Trucks back out, the augmented DMB performed an amazing group cover of The Allman Brothers’ “Melissa,” the gorgeous ballad giving way to a massive collaboration of The Beatles’ “Come Together” featuring Goose, Rateliff, and all the previous performers gathered around the microphones to belt the lyrics – a fitting joyous conclusion to nearly five hours of music.
Whether you entered the building a hardcore fan of one or all of the bands on the bill, it was impossible to leave without feeling the sense of community that each of the artists have worked to cultivate in their own corners of the scene for their entire careers. The sense of group accomplishment and joy inside MSG last night about the music and the fact that we were coming together to help benefit those affected by devastating hurricanes made it one of the most special and unique live music experiences I’ve had yet.
I’d be remiss if I also didn’t shout out the massive number of crew who worked on last night’s concert – getting the stage turned over as many times as they did as quickly as they did is no mean feat, and I’m also grateful for the consistently high quality of sound and lights in the room for the duration of the concert.
Thank you to Goose, Warren Haynes, Nathaniel Rateliff, DMB, and all the incredible special guests for an amazing show – I cannot wait to see the lasting effects this night has on all these bands’ future collaborations!
We recapped last night LIVE on Always Almost There with special guests Garrett and Matt Busch - check it out below!