Review: Dickey Betts and Band Cookin' at the Colonial
 Dickey Betts and Great Southern at the Colonial.
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PITTSFIELD, Mass.
The former Allman Brothers Band stalwart left that band in 2000 and realigned his career to recently include his son Duane on second lead guitar with Great Southern. Other members include Joe Pascarell (guitar), Todd Cohen (drums), Ryan Ball (bass) and Scott Chasolen (keyboards). Chasolen, by coincidence, sounds a lot like Greg Allman.
The Luke Mulholland Band opened up the evening for Betts. Mulholland and his band are very young; he is 19, and I am not sure about the others with exception of the keyboard player, who looked like he could be everyone's father. Our publication gave his most recent release "Further" 5 stars so the quality of their performance came as no surprise to me.
Mulholland was impressive. His guitar skills were on display during each song and he sports a husky blues-rock voice that is perfect for the Southern-rock blues idiom. He successfully completed his set, much to the delight of everyone in attendance and gracefully walked off the stage to make way for the headline act.
Betts is 66 years old and, so it seems, has not lost a step in his abilities to jam fluidly without breaking a sweat. He is the onstage conductor, leading two other guitarists, a bass player, drummer and an additional percussionist to southern rock jam band heaven.
This was to be a very special evening for all of those in attendance. Betts and his band were really cookin' right from the opening song to the last. Some may be surprised that Betts wrote some of the Allman Brothers greatest hits including the stunning instrumental "Jessica," "Ramblin' Man," "Blue Sky" and "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." Although Gregg Allman is widely known as the voice of the Allman Brothers, Betts did his share of singing for the band and continues to hold his own as a lead singer when called upon.
As Betts and his red-hot band made their way through a series of well-known Allman Brothers songs and a few of their own originals, the near-capacity crowd got more fired up. Some of the selections where all-out jams lasting 15 to 20 minutes. This would bring us to curfew very quickly, which seems ridiculous for a concert, disabling the appreciative crowd's cheers for an encore. What a shame.
This is rock 'n' roll so who cares what time it is, even if it is Wednesday night and we all have to go to work in the morning? Besides, how many people stay up past midnight to watch the Red Sox when they are on the West Coast? You can watch a game anytime and how many opportunities come up like this in Pittsfield? Hello? The folks at the Colonial need to pull in the reins on the strict time-frame bands have to get off the stage.
The highlight of the evening was an unbelievable version of "Jessica." I looked over at my son and we both said together: WOW! It really was an amazing display of musical prowess and improvisation. It was mesmerizing and every lick cemented in my mind the fact that the Allman Brothers and Betts were the granddaddies of jam rock. As the night wore on they would prove that time and again.
There is another Betts on the rise, Dickey's son Duane (no doubt named after Dickey's ex-bandmate Duane Allman who was tragically killed in an accident). Duane is very limber onstage bending his entire body to the notes on his sunburst orange guitar and Dad seems more than willing to push him out to the front and show everyone how well versed he is with his six-string. I did notice that Duane respectively steps backs on cue when the elder Betts needs to peel of some of his own now-legendary licks.
Everyone in Great Southern knows their place and they all are excellent musicians and certainly Betts would have not had it any other way. There was one exception on this great night of entertainment; again I must point the finger at the sound system. The feedback the band was getting was agonizing at times.
Because of the fact they have four Marshall Amps lined up one after the other and four guitars blaring away furiously may have something to do with it but nevertheless, it was painfully obvious that this was an issue and one that could not be corrected. Even so, I think that was one drawback everyone could live with.
As the night came to a close they ended it all fittingly with "Ramblin' Man" and by that time people were coming down the aisles taking pictures with their cell phones and hooting and hollering while waving their arms.
The youthful exuberance that filled the air was contagious. I paid the price the following day myself having difficulty carrying on any conversation because of strained vocal chords. It was all worth it, every minute of it and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck of Adams offers up his best-listening bets as a regular contributor to iBerkshires. For more reviews, www.muzikreviews.com. For questions or comments on this review, drop me a line at info@muzikreviews.com.
