Tedeschi Trucks Band brought its Deuces Wild tour to Berkeley, CA over the weekend where the band gave its fans a blues spectacle of beloved originals, wide-ranging covers, sit-ins from special tour opener Little Feat, and even a taste of history in the form of Jerry Garcia‘s legendary “Alligator” 1957 Fender Stratocaster guitar. Historical hippie icon and Merry Prankster Wavy Grav welcomed the TTB to the stage for the first of what was to be a truly satisfying weekend’s worth of exploration into blues eras past, present, and a most promising future in the hands of this veritable orchestra.
Reeling off first-time played covers and deep cuts throughout Friday and Saturday, the Tedeschi Trucks band curated a weekend under the blanket of stars for everyone within earshot. From the first notes of Friday night’s show opener, “Soul Sweet Song”, the first family of modern blues guitar, soulful Susan Tedeschi and her husband the deadly Derek Trucks, made excellent use of the veritable royal court of backing players they’ve assembled.
As usual, the six-string-wielding blues guitar dynamic husband and wife duo made sure each member of their 12-piece collective had spaces and places to shine. Whether it was backing vocalists Alecia Chakour, Mike Mattison, or Mark Rivers getting turns on leads as well as harmonizing in an inseparable, joyful choir or the horn section of trumpeter Ephraim Owens, sax and flute man Kebbi Williams, and trombonist Elizabeth Lea always at the ready with impressive solos or simply punctuating the sonic proceedings with peels and squeals, none of the back line was left long in the shadows. Keyboardist Gabe Dixon was a non-stop flurry for much of both shows, with everything from razor-sharp piano lines to lush, sky-high and breathy organ chords that worked perfectly against the pocket provided by the percussive partnership of drummers Isaac Eady and Tyler Greenwell along with bassist Brandon Boone‘s low register work.
Not that the loving guitar work from bandleaders Derek and Susan truly needed much, if any, help to spellbind the audience. While Susan Tedeschi has both impressively all the emotive fretboard skills and a voice to provide thrills and chills her husband Derek Trucks is, simply put, one of the best slide blues players of this or any generation. Their pairing, like the love they clearly share for each other, seems like a match made in heaven, and the resultant sounds these love birds make are most certainly divine. Their years together have done more than reinforce their love; it’s transformed the pair into a nearly indistinguishable wall of blues sound and fury conjured into the material realm.
Tedeschi Trucks Band fans knew these Greek Theater shows were going to be special, but even the most storied of veterans had to be amazed at the range of covers and bust-outs the band shared over some four hours of magic. With multiple tunes by everyone from rock icons The Rolling Stones (“You’ve Got Silver” and a most impressive first-time played “Monkey Man”), The Allman Brothers Band (“Dreams” and an ABB-esque cover of Blind Willie McTell‘s “Statesboro Blues”), Jeff Beck (“Beck’s Bolero”), and Aretha Franklin (“It Ain’t Fair”) the sheer pedigree of the material was among the best in the world. Even the sight-challenged tunesmiths of yore seemed well represented, from the aforementioned Blind Willie McTell, Blind Joe Reynolds (“Outside Woman Blues”), and Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton-fronted supergroup Blind Faith (“Had to Cry Today”) were seen and heard from.
Both evenings were blessed with picture-perfect weather and over a dozen covers that complimented the player’s own compositions like “Midnight In Harlem”, “Shame”, and a healthy heaping of tracks from across the band’s ambitious four-part album I Am The Moon project. That said, while both nights’ setlists were as crowd-pleasing as they were dense, the instrumentation utilized to achieve this was also a factor. Tedeschi wielded the loaner of Jerry Garcia’s Gator Strat with grace and care, making the sacred instrument sing on the Grateful Dead‘s “Mr. Charlie”, the openeing “Statesboro Blues”, and more for the grateful Berkeley audience lucky enough to witness yet another musical touchstone from TTB.
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Though it would be understandable for any band as packed with talent as the Tedeschi Trucks Band to go it alone, the group played perfect hosts to its show openers, welcoming members of Little Feat out to close out the run with the last two encore numbers, Sleepy John Estes‘ “Leaving Trunk” and Rahsaan Roland Kirk‘s “Volunteered Slavery”. All weekend long, whether the Tedeschi Trucks Band was revisiting past glories like the epic Joe Cocker cover sets on Friday with show-closer “High Time We Went” or simply bending chords and breaking hearts with the sheer weight of its blues-based gravity, this was as powerful a display of musical mastery as you’re likely to hear this or any other year.
Check out some videos from throughout the Tedeschi Trucks Band run at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. The band also recently began uploading audio of its shows to nugs.net, available here. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs.net affiliate. Ordering your subscription or purchasing an audio download via the links on this page helps support our work covering Tedeschi Trucks Band and the world of live music as a whole. Thanks for reading!]
TTB’s Deuces Wild tour continues on June 4th with a show in Reno, NV. Visit the band’s website for tickets and a full list of tour dates.
Tedeschi Trucks Band — “Soul Sweet Song”, “Playing With My Emotions” [Pro-Shot] — 5/31/24
Tedeschi Trucks Band — “Statesboro Blues” (Blind Willie McTell), “Let Me Get By” [Pro-Shot] — 6/1/24
Setlist: Tedeschi Trucks Band | William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre | Berkeley, CA | 5/31/24
Set: Soul Sweet Song, Playing With My Emotions, Anyhow, I Feel So Bad (Chuck Willis), It’s So Heavy, Idle Wind, You Got the Silver (The Rolling Stones), Circles ‘Round the Sun, Had to Cry Today (Blind Faith), It Ain’t Fair (Aretha Franklin) > Dreams(The Allman Brothers Band), Made Up Mind, Just Won’t Burn, I Want More > Beck’s Bolero (Jeff Beck)
Encore: La Di Da, High Time We Went (Joe Cocker)
Setlist: Tedeschi Trucks Band | William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre | Berkeley, CA | 6/1/24
Set: Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell) [1], Let Me Get By [1], Part of Me, Hear My Dear, Monkey Man (The Rolling Stones) [2], Mr. Charlie (Grateful Dead) [1], Do I Look Worried, Shame > Outside Woman Blues (Blind Joe Reynolds), Bound for Glory, Midnight In Harlem, Yes We Will, Ain’t That Something, Space Captain (Matthew Moore)
Encore:
I Can’t Make You Love Me (Mike Reid), Leaving Trunk (Sleepy John Estes) [3] > Volunteered Slavery (Rahsaan Roland Kirk) [3]
[1] Susan played Jerry Garcia’s “Alligator” guitar
[2] FTP
[3] w/ Little Feat
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