The Black Crowes & Dirty Honey - Charlotte, North Carolina: Sept. 10, 2021

DIRTY HONEY

Opening acts are often overlooked. Fans will stream into a venue halfway through their set, sometimes coming to regret that decision. I’ve never been this type. If I pay for a ticket to a show, I want to be there the second the first note rings out regardless of if I know the band or not. Some of my favorite shows have been such because of the openers and this was certainly the case for me on September 10, 2021 with Los Angeles rockers, Dirty Honey. There has been a fair share of criticism in recent years that rock music is a dying breed. A couple of bands such as The Struts and Greta Van Fleet have come onto the scene as the potential saviors, but as much as I love those bands, I think the real revival lies in the hands of the four guys who make up Dirty Honey: Marc LaBelle, John Notto, Corey Coverstone, and Justin Smolian. When the band took the stage around 7:30 Friday night, the crowd was sparse to say the least. The sun was still setting, and the atmosphere wasn’t exactly “right” for a rock show. That all changed when the opening chords of “Gypsy” bellowed through the venue amplifiers. For the next hour, I would witness what I consider to be one of the best opening bands I’ve seen at the nearly 300 concerts I’ve attended. This four-piece delivered a straightforward rock approach that combined elements of Zeppelin and Aerosmith to create a sound that is uniquely theirs. The band was strong in all aspects but lead singer Marc LaBelle would be mentioned among the all-time greats had he been alive in the 1970s. Not only did he hit notes that most singers can only dream about; LaBelle showed a special ability to draw his audience in. As the set went along, you could feel an energy building that made it clear, Dirty Honey was going to be gaining quite a few new fans on this night. By the time the band launched into my favorite tune, “When I’m Gone,” the seats had filled in with new faces who were instantly on their feet clapping and singing along. As a fan of 70s and 80s rock music, for me, there couldn’t have been a better opener chosen for this tour than Dirty Honey. I truly believe that it is only a matter of time until the narrative surrounding rock music’s heartbeat shifts - this band will undoubtedly play a significant role.

Dirty Honey Setlist: Gypsy, Break You, No Warning, Last Child (Aerosmith cover), Tied Up, Heartbreaker, Down the Road, The Wire, California Dreamin', Another Last Time, When I'm Gone, Rolling 7s

THE BLACK CROWES

When The Black Crowes announced the Shake Your Money Maker reunion tour in November 2019, it marked the end of what had become known as a bitter rivalry between brothers Chris and Rich Robinson - a creative feud so vicious that the two didn’t even speak to each other for five years. It left many (myself included) wondering if the Robinsons would make it on the road long enough together to complete the originally scheduled 37-date run. Last Friday night in Charlotte marked show number 29 on their calendar and the band is sounding as great as ever with new dates being added seemingly every day. At this point, I think it’s safe to say The Black Crowes are officially back.?

The premise of this tour is one we’ve seen plenty of times before: a band playing their debut album, and in this case, their biggest, in its entirety. It’s something that die-hard fans often dream of seeing their favorite bands do, but it can present a real challenge in the modern day given that a lot classic rock bands are playing for audiences often filled with casual fans who simply want to hear the songs that have been played on rock radio for the past few decades. In the case of The Black Crowes, the audience at PNC Music Pavilion seemed to be a perfect mix of both. Of course, there was a certain buzz when the band launched into the opening song of the set, “Twice as Hard,” a slightly slower-tempoed “Jealous Again,” and eventually, the Otis Redding cover “Hard to Handle,” but many in attendance seemed just as excited to sing along to lesser-known tunes like “Thick N’ Thin” and “Soul Singing.” Quite honestly, even when I didn’t know a song, there was something infectious about the deliberate delivery of each note from front man, Chris Robinson that made you feel as though you were listening to a song you’d known your entire life. When The Black Crowes were a guest on his show back in 2019, Howard Stern asked Robinson whether he felt he was one of the greatest front men in rock history. At the time, I thought this was a rather silly question to pose. In no way would I ever have put Robinson in a discussion with the likes of Mick Jagger, Robert Plant or Steven Tyler, but after seeing and hearing him live, I began to see Stern’s point in asking this. Robinson has a soulful, blues-infused voice that takes you back to the days of Stax Records, which comes as no surprise given that the band has often cited this era of music as a massive influence on their distinct sound. What may be most impressive about Robinson, though, is that all the songs in the Charlotte set appeared to be performed in their original keys. It’s a well-known fact that many of the bands out there in their third [plus] decades of touring often make significant adjustments to assist their lead singers in sounding how audiences wish to remember them. Not Chris Robinson: somehow managing to defy natural progression and sound just as great as he did in 1990. Donning tightly fitting silver pants and moving around the stage with pelvic-driven moves reminiscent of Jagger, Robinson’s soaring vocals on “Seeing Things” transported the audience into a church pew and turned a Friday night into a Sunday morning in a way that left us all feeling moved by the gospel. To say I was transfixed would be an understatement.

While The Black Crowes are certainly most known for the Robinsons, I would be remiss to not at least mention one of the other musicians joining the band on this tour: lead guitarist, Isaiah Mitchell. I admittedly came into the show thinking that Rich Robinson was more of a lead guitarist than he is, and while his contributions from both a guitar perspective as well as his songwriting are instrumental in making The Black Crowes what they are, I was more impressed with Mitchell and the firepower he brought to the show with his commanding riffs and solos. A tip of my cap goes out to the sound engineer working the controls, as well. Mitchell’s guitar was loud and in control all night long, just as it should have been.?

My only complaint with Friday night’s set was the exact thing that kept me from seeing The Black Crowes when they last toured several years ago. The current tour is being billed as “Shake Your Money Maker,” plus “all the hits.” The first part of that promise was certainly fulfilled, but the seven-song set that came after the conclusion of the album failed to provide what I would label as “all the hits.” While I’m sure there were die-hards in attendance who were thrilled to hear “Gone” and “Black Moon Creeping,” exchanging those songs out in favor of others such as “Good Friday,” “Sting Me,” and “Only a Fool” would have kept the promise of a hits set while selfishly making me feel more satisfied by the end of the evening. This was something that always concerned me about seeing The Black Crowes in the past. They became a jam band who took on an almost Grateful Dead-like persona, often leaving out most of the songs in their live set that helped them to sell more than 30 million albums during their career. As a huge Pearl Jam fan, I can certainly appreciate a band who wants to pull out deeper cuts for the fans who enjoy more than just the surface of their catalog, but when a tour set is billed as including “all the hits,” I expect to hear more of the popular songs that I’ve grown to know and fall in love with. While I’ll also admit that I don’t usually enjoy a band turning a four-minute studio cut into a 12-minute live performance, I absolutely loved the jam session that broke out during “Thorn in My Pride” later in the set. This was already one of my favorite Crowes tunes coming in and the moment when Chris Robinson broke out his harmonica around minute six or seven was a definite highlight of the evening.?

Hopefully the Robinson brothers remain cordial for the remainder of the Shake Your Money Maker tour so that we can all enjoy having The Black Crowes out on the road and making music together for many years to come. Tickets for remaining tour dates are available now at LiveNation.com and additional shows are still being announced, so be sure to keep an eye out for a Black Crowes stop in a city near you.?

The Black Crowes Setlist: (Shake Your Money Maker) Twice as Hard, Jealous Again, Sister Luck, Could I've Been So Blind, Seeing Things, Hard to Handle (Otis Redding cover), Thick N' Thin, She Talks to Angels, Struttin' Blues, Stare It Cold, Gone, Black Moon Creeping, Soul Singing, Wiser Time, Thorn in My Pride, Remedy, Hey Hey What Can I Do.