Concert Review: Tedeschi Trucks Band / Ziggy Marley @ SPAC, 07/01/2023

That Rock and Roll juggernaut known as the Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB) rolled into the Broadview Stage at SPAC for what seems to be their annual visit to the amphitheater. They certainly didn’t disappoint their fans with their two-hour single-set performance. The full twelve-member band is a sight to behold. They were arranged with backup singers on stage, keyboards at stage right, bass stage left, and the two-drummer rhythm section and Susan & Derek in the middle.

The band is influenced by multiple genres of music, including jazz, folk, roots, blues, gospel, and soul; all of these were represented and rolled into TTB’s unique sound. In a band that is a constellation of twelve bright stars, Derek’s guitar playing was the star that shone the most with this performance.

Derek Trucks’ style emanates from the late Duane Allman’s style, but he takes it further than Duane did. One can hear the influences of John McLaughlin, Bill Frisell, as well as other guitar gods. He achieves this through his pioneering slide and pick-free guitar work.

Susan Tedeschi’s guitar playing is nothing to sneeze at. She is more in a blues guitar style and plays a mean rhythm guitar behind Derek’s. Her star really shines in her soulful vocals, truly embodying blues and soul. Keyboardist Gabe Dixon, backup vocalist Mike Mattison, Alecia Chakour, and Mark Rivers also had turns in lead vocals. Mark Rivers also accompanied himself with an acoustic guitar, with the band backing him up.

Saxophonist Kebbi Williams let loose with a free-form saxophone solo, followed by fellow horn players Elizabeth Lea (trombone) and Ephraim Owens (trumpet), which somehow easily segued into the entire band playing a long instrumental stretch. Ephraim Owens had a lead/solo trumpet that had more of a gospel sound.

Drummers Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady have played together in the band, and you could definitely hear it. Whether interlocking to formulate complex polyrhythms or playing in unison to give the band’s sound an extra punch, one could not ask for a more perfect engine to drive the band when played along with Brandon Boone’s precision bass.

There was a twin climax to the set with two covers:

1. The 1973 Rolling Stones classic “Doo, Doo, Doo Heartbreaker.” With haunting lyrics of an accidental police shooting and a ten-year-old overdosing on drugs, sadly, it’s as relevant today as it was back in 1973.
2. Beck’s Bolero. A 1966 Jeff Beck instrumental classic that was inspired by Ravel’s Bolero.

Ziggy Marley, accompanied by his 8-member band that included two backup singers, opened the set with an updated version of the roots reggae that his late dad Bob helped pioneer. The first few numbers were love songs that are a large part of the genre. The latter parts of the set were primarily protest/struggle songs. Songs of personal change, like “Start It Up,” songs of universal change, like “We Are the People,” and hope, like “Love Is My Religion.” Included from his dad’s songbook is a medley, “Get Up, Stand Up/War.” Closing the set with his dad’s love song “Is This Love.” Ziggy has much of the stage presence and charisma his late father had with his below-the-knees dreadlocks and continuous movement on the stage. His backup singers were perfectly but loosely choreographed to convey the message of the music. The music was punctuated by virtuosic lead guitar solos by guitarist Takeshi Akimoto.

This was a perfectly satisfying evening of live music and a great way to mark the second half of 2023.

Photo Gallery by Rudy Lu