The Black Crowes
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Asheville, North Carolina, USA
October 2, 2009

A Doodee Music Master Recording

"If it's a DOODEE, you know it's the SHITŪ"
- Stripeydave 2008
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Don't know what it is about mixing Asheville and The Black Crowes. Maybe it's the mountain air or the cool bohemian vibe of the city. Whatever forces are at work, they always seem to result in The Crowes delivering a stellar show every time they pass through Asheville. This night held serve. I'd seen 'em a couple days before in Charlotte and was happy with that show. Then this one comes along and lays The Fillmore gig to waste. I told a friend of mine I was almost embarrassed for liking the 9-30 Charlotte gig so much after seeing this one. Very varied setlist from The Crowes from one night to the next as we have all come to expect. Got the same amount of new songs (7) each night with only three songs overall repeated in back to back shows.

There were a few nice moments here that surprised me -

- a nice, long spacey jam out of "And The Band Played On", a number that strikes me as kinda Beatleish musically
- an unexpected "Darling Of the Underground Press", one of my faves
- how much I enjoyed the mandobird driven "Shine Along"
- the extended coda out of "Roll Old Jeremiah" that started out mandobird fueled and then turned quite Allman Bros. before it segued straight into....
- a really sweet version of "Good Friday"
- getting reminded what a nice song "Wounded Bird" is live

In addition to the above, this show, for me, had three epic moments which coincidentally clocked in at 10 minutes each. In order of appearance - "Girl From The North Country", "Feathers", and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin' ".

The band rolled out of "Fork In The River" straight into "Girl From The North Country". This Dylan piece is perfect for a Chris/Rich trade off on the verses and we got an extended trio of alternating solos - Luther pickin', Rich pickin', Luther slidin'. Really nice version of this song with lots more extended guitar play than I thought we'd get.

The main set ended at the 95 minute mark and then I got a little excited. Shows have been running about two hours with no more than two songs as encores so I felt we were in for something special. Yep, I was right. First we got a really beautiful version of "Feathers", another song where Chris' vocals really excel. Nice guitar work on this one and Adam added a nice coda that had a dreamy, Doorsy "Riders On The Storm" feel.

Rich closed us out with a great take on The Velvet Underground's "Oh! Sweet Nuthin' ". Rich hadn't sung a song totally on his own up to this point and I was hopin' we might get this one. He really owns this song live. When this tune started I had to wonder how many folks unfamiliar with this VU song thought they were gettin' a Crowes version of The Marshall Tucker Band's "Can't You See". They sound very similar at the beginning, sans flute of course. I think Toy Caldwell musta holed up with The Velvet Underground's "Loaded" down in Spartanburg at some point. I really like this one as a show closer. Another round of nice alternating solos on this one as well. And with that, we were done.

An item of note on the recording itself - I somehow had the levels a tad hot at the beginning even though my peak meters were OK (the inexcusable taper sin - accept Uncle D's apologies kids). At that point I guess the soundman saved me by backing down a bit. The left channel was particularly crunchy during the first three songs so I copied the right mic into both channels making the first three tracks mono. After that the remainder of the show is stereo. This download should only be a temporary solution - everyone needs to get the official version at www.liveblackcrowes.com as soon as it's released.

No pig in a poke here - check the samples and use the democratic process. The Uncle D money back guarantee applies. Y'all enjoy!

Disc One
1. Good Morning Captain
2. Nebakanezer
3. And The Band Played On>
4. Jam
5. Darling Of The Underground Press
6. Shine Along
7. Roll Old Jeremiah>
8. Good Friday
9. Go Tell The Congregation
10. I Ain't Hiding

Disc Two
1. Fork In The River>
2. Girl From The North Country (Dylan)
3. A Conspiracy
4. Wounded Bird
5. Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love)
6. The "Truth" About Truth & Salvage Company
7. Feathers
8. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (Velvet Underground)

Chris Robinson - V/G/H
Rich Robinson - G/V
Luther Dickinson - G/M
Sven Pipien - B/V
Steve Gorman - D
Adam MacDougall - K
Charity White - BV
Mona Lisa Young - BV

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