Article & Photos: Jim Summaria
Attending a Tedeschi Trucks Band concert is a magical musical experience. This band is one of the best out there today. Taking elements of all genres of music, but mostly blues and rock, they lift their listeners higher and higher on each every song. The band consists of 12 members including backup singers, a brass section and double drummers.
Upfront is the immensely talented guitarist and former Allman Brothers band member Derek Trucks and his wife Susan Tedeschi, she with the powerful bluesy voice and terrific guitar licks as well. I was awed at Trucks’ prowess and Susan’s passionate and versatile vocal skills.
The two-hour plus show at the Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island in Chicago on July 31started out with a cover of George Harrison's “Wah-Wah” followed immediately by a jaw-dropping rendition of Led Zeppelin's “What Is and What Should Never Be”. Their song “Playing With My Emotions” from their latest album I Am the Moon featured Tedeschi at her soulful vocal best. The Willie Nelson song “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces” followed and then keyboardist Gabe Dixon sang lead vocals on “Ain't That Something” also from their latest album. A couple of covers were next, the funky “Get Out of My Life, Woman” by Allen Toussaint featuring a nice keyboard solo; and then a nice surprise “Who Knows” by the Jim Hendrix- led group Band of Gypsies. Up next was “Part of Me” that featured a stunning vocal by Tedeschi. She followed with and equally impressive cover of Aretha Franklin's “It Ain't Fair.”. Tedeschi’s beautifully sung version of “Anyhow” would surely make Bonnie Raitt proud.
And now on to Derek Trucks. All this time he's been playing phenomenal guitar, sometimes while staying quietly aside. But on “I Want More” he showed us the virtuoso he really is. Trucks ended the number with “Beck's Bolero,” in tribute to the late guitar genius Jeff Beck.
So if that wasn't enough to impress us so far -- by playing songs by Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck -- Trucks took on the Allman Brothers song “Come and Go Blues” paying tribute to his late guitar hero Dickie Betts. The song also had a nice piano solo by vocalist Gabe Dixon. “Midnight in Harlem,” “Yes We Will” and the rockin' “Made Up Mind” showcased Tedeschi and Trucks at their best as they ended the show. The crowd beckoned them back and they obliged, but at first with just Dixon on piano to accompany Tedeschi beautifully singing the Mike Reid and Alan Shamblin ballad “I Can't Make You Love Me” that Bonnie Raitt made famous.
“Soul Sweet Song” featured more superb slide work by Trucks that had the audience enraptured. The show could have ended there and left everyone fully satisfied but the band wasn't done yet. They closed with the spooky Dr. John song ” Walk on Guilded Splinters” highlighted by a double drum solo. Both the band and the audience left the pavilion exhausted, sweaty, satisfied and fully charged. A Tedeschi Trucks concert is truly an amazing experience!
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