Show Review - The Brothers 4/16/25 New York, NY
High Voltage Rock 'n Roll
The Brothers brought their celebration of the music and legacy of The Allman Brothers Band to a close last night with the second of two shows, picking up right where Tuesday’s momentum left off and throwing down another blazing hot concert.
Opening up with the immediately-recognizable riffs of “Don’t Want You No More,” keyboardist Reese Wynans and guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes got things warmed up with succinct solos, weaving the ending of the song directly into the slinky vibe of “Not My Cross To Bear.”
Trucks supported Haynes’ vocals with some choice fills before tackling his first slide solo of the night, pouring forth beautiful phrases in his signature soaring style. Things picked back up with “Done Somebody Wrong,” the rhythm section of drummers Joe Russo and Jaimoe plus percussionist Marc Quinones locking in with bassist Oteil Burbridge to activate a perfect bluesy shuffle.
An exuberant “Revival” had the whole arena on its feet and singing along, the positive energy flowing and leading directly into the dirty grooves of “Every Hungry Woman,” Haynes and Trucks trading off quick bursts of solos, finishing each other’s musical thoughts with the kind of telepathy that only comes with decades of playing together – all the while Burbridge unleashed head-spinning fills that need to be heard to truly be believed.
The first repeat from Tuesday came next with “Dreams,” taking the first-set centrepiece slot as opposed to its placement in the second frame on the first night. Additionally, whereas Haynes took the lead on the big emotional solo on Tuesday, Trucks handled duties last night – and absolutely blew me away with one of my favourite moments of the entire run.
Building from nothing, the guitarist utilized dynamics so well and the amount of listening happening from the rest of the band was spectacular – rather than just play underneath Trucks’ solo, each musician took inspiration from the lead riffs to tweak small aspects of the groove, resulting in a truly spellbinding peak once things reached a fever pitch.
“Hoochie Coochie Man” led into Haynes staple “Soulshine,” the bright and meaningful song augmented by Chuck Leavell on piano, the dual-keyboard intro with Wynans’ organ giving off a floaty church-like quality.
“Stand Back” kept the energy high before a lengthy cool-down was tapped with “Desdemona,” Leavell really shining on a phenomenal piano solo, introducing several jazzy themes and elements to his whirlwind runs, adding a new layer to the straight-ahead rock of some of the earlier songs.
Moving into a space with heavy teasing of “My Favorite Things,” the band concluded the penultimate song of the set on a high note before continuing the Leavell showcase with the always-high-energy “Jessica.” Haynes and Trucks once again displayed their long-time musical connection with a double-lead solo that saw both guitarists work in a “Mountain Jam” tease, which was immediately matched by Burbridge throwing in a “Blue Sky” riff.
Coming back from the break, The Brothers took a more song-oriented approach to the second set, kicking things off with a tender “Melissa.” “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” was tapped next for some more awe-inspiring slide work from Trucks before the drummers took on an intro to “No One To Run With,” the song once again augmented by a slideshow of former ABB members above the stage.
“One Way Out” offered a burst of energy and more fretboard fireworks ahead of Leavell’s return to the stage for “Midnight Rider.”
A slinky take on “Good Morning, School Girl” saw the “baton” get passed around the stage with each musician taking a fantastic solo, Haynes and Wynans both using their respective volume pedals at different times for some cool wash-y effects. After the blistering peak of his solo, Trucks played with the tuning on his low E string to create some brief dissonance as Haynes returned to the last verse of the song.
The iconic “Blue Sky” continued the set before things really took off with “Les Brers in A Minor.” Taking the slot and vibe of Tuesday’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” this sprawling instrumental saw some of Burbridge’s finest work of the night as he dug in on the gritty bass line.
Wynans soared forth on organ, Leavell right underneath him with an amazing dual-keyboard combo as Russo’s fluid drumming elevated each of the soloists to new heights. Trucks brought the song to a raging boil ahead of a calming pivot into some cascading melodic work from Burbridge, the bassist smoothly playing some jazzy chords to intro Leavell’s solo section, the pianist sparring with Burbridge in full angular jazz mode. This section of “Les Brers” was easily my highlight of last night’s show and once again demonstrated to me just how incredible of a musician Burbridge is.
Haynes picked things up where Leavell left off and drove the band to a final screaming peak of the song before tapping the Leavell-fronted “Southbound” to close the second set.
Of course, there was only one song that could fill the encore slot once again (though I had an outside dream that maybe they’d squeeze in a “Liz Reed”), and the opening bass riff to “Whipping Post” had the World’s Most Famous Arena screaming with delight.
Trucks’ final solo of the night was among his best of the run, as he led the band through an extended tease of “Afro Blue” before taking the reins and absolutely blowing the roof off of MSG, doing what he does best. Haynes handled the second major-key solo and weaved his last solo into an amazing melodic story before bringing things home.
At the conclusion of the show, it felt as though both audience and band didn’t want to be finished, and Jaimoe’s heartfelt thank you to all the fans and musicians with an added “let’s come back and do this again tomorrow” really gave the sense that the past couple of weeks of rehearsal and performance only served to strengthen the connection between The Allman Brothers Band fans, music, and members.
Not having been old enough to see the band in its original run, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have attended the last two nights of The Brothers – some of my earliest musical memories are of listening to the Allmans with my dad, so getting to be with him for incredible live performances of the same songs was a really special experience.
