The Saint Augustine Amphitheater hosted the Allman Betts Band on February 6 2020. by Joel Shover
During this challenging time in our world having the opportunity to see live music is truly a blessing. When the opportunity came up to see The Allman Betts Band I purchased my tickets with great anticipation of enjoying the live music experience, in a socially distanced atmosphere of course.
When Saturday, Feb. 6th came around I excitedly got in my car and made the drive to see the band at the classic Saint Augustine Amphitheater. The weather was predicted to be rainy but even Mother Nature couldn’t stop the peace, love, and music that was in the air that night.
I consider it a privilege to watch The Allman Betts Band as I have watched Devon Allman go from his younger days on the Mushroom Stage at Wanee to teaming up with Duane Betts to form The Allman Betts Band so the music of their parents could continue. So I was super excited to attend the concert in Saint Augustine that was part of The Winter Fun Run.
It was a cold and rainy night but the band heated up the atmosphere with their music. The Allman Betts band has been on fire with each and every show representing the Bless Your Heart Album. They came right out of the box with the rocking music with Airboats and Cocaine and then fired to a speedy King Crawler which featured the vocals of Dwayne Betts.
The band then moved into a really funky groovy 14 minutes of Shakedown Street, the Grateful Dead classic, followed by the classic Allman Brothers’ Blue Sky.
The ABB then performed a very special Neal Casal (of Blackfoot, Chris Robinston Brotherhood, Ryan Adams, and others) tribute of Raining Straight Down as the rain was literally raining straight down on us. This song will be featured on a tribute album to Neal that is to be released some time in 2021.
The mood and the music could not be dampened as the band returned to their new Bless Your Heart album with Magnolia Road. They slowed it down and played three hits from their debut album starting with Autumn Breeze into Down to the River and Shining. In keeping with the theme of the rainy night they performed a cover of Prince’s Purple Rain.
We were treated to a double encore which included the debut track from Bless Your Heart, Pale Horse Rider, followed by a 16 minute jamming rendition of the Allman Brothers classic hit Dreams.
The Allman Betts Band typically includes Devon Allman & Duane Betts on guitars and vocals, Berry Oakley Jr. on bass, Johnny Stachela on slide guitar, John Ginty on Hammond B3 (Robert Randolph/Dixie Chicks) and Devon Allman Project percussionists R. Scott Bryan (Sheryl Crow) and John Lum. Of note, though, on this night the audience experienced Pedro Arevelo was on bass guitar instead of Berry Oakley.
The crowd in Saint Augustine left the venue completely satisfied. We were given the thrill of live music by a band that is talented and entertaining. I enjoyed every moment of this experience. Go see live Music!
The road goes on forever.
This is Joel Shover’s first review with us, and we know him to be a huge fan of live music.
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