Mountain View, CA concert review Black Crowes HORDE concert review Sunday July 31st 1994 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA by Doug Fierro Well it's been a while since I've seen the boys live. The HORDE scene was very low-key- the Crowes just strolled on stage in broad daylight on a fine sunny afternoon with no fanfare or introduction. Chris was not lambasting any institutions during their set nor did he get on his soapbox and preach- just humbly performed for the crowd. Some of the stage is familiar, with Chris still not wearing shoes as he dances around on the five oriental rugs they set out on stage prior to the show. No net of lights or spinning mirror globes overhead like on the last tour- just a bare-bones setup. Steve had a blue Darwin drumset, Marc had a bottle of JD within reaching distance, and Johnny Colt is sporting a gote' now(moustache&beard on chin area only). There was also a stand-in guy on the bongos- not sure who he was. [Chris Trujillo D.F.] Anyway, since it's been a while, let me introduce the band and what they appeared in when they came on stage: Chris Robinson- The eternal hippie, barefoot and long-haired with some radical sideburns, clothed in an orange-red pair of button-fly bell-bottoms and a black shirt that had a silver moon and star positioned much like the now-defunct Soviet flag emblem with the sickle and star. He had a silver jewelry ensemble- silver bracelets on both wrists, silver belt buckle, and silver buttons on the pants. His drink of choice on stage was Evian water. Rich Robinson- White shirt with a black jacket and brown leather pants and a matching vest. His shirt had embroidered red roses on the sleeves, and the pants had black designs along the side. Wearing black shoes and what appeared to be a wedding ring on (is he married?). [Married to Emma Snowball- D.F.] Rich was looking pretty stoned. Johnny Colt- Obnoxious wide blue tie and matching handkerchief, black jacket, maroon crush-velvet pants and sporting a gote'. Had on some funky Gargoyle-type sunglasses. Still the same old Johnny on stage. Steve Gorman- White long-sleeve shirt and a black vest. His hair is a bit longer then when he had it on the last tour- about shoulder length. He looks grossly overweight and not in the best of health. Hopefully it's just a phase or something. Marc Ford- Long hair and looking a bit bloated, noticed he had a bottle of JD nearby and a 40oz Heiniken to wash it down :-) He also appears to be a chain smoker. Ed Harwsh? - Could not see him well from where I was sitting- he had a black leather motorcycle-type jacket, shirt, jeans. Mysterious Bongo Player- Some dude with a blue bandana, black shirt, and also wearing a gote'. [Chris Trujillo D.F.] In Crowes tradition, they introduced a good number of new songs to their show. The songlist was as follows: Sting Me Thorn In My Pride Gone* Sometimes Salvation Wiser Time* Sister Luck High Head Blues* Conspiracy * Jealous Again Remedy *new song [new songs appeared on the following album "Amorica" D.F.] No encores, since all the bands were considerate not to take up stage time from the next band appearing. The band tore into "Sting Me" to open the show and from there went on to play Thorn In My Pride. Chris was playing harmonica during this song doing his best John Popper imitation :-) Chris also tried his hand at the castanets for a song. Chris mentioned during the show that they are completing their new album- no date yet. With that he introduced a new song that began with the words "Save Me" [Gone D.F.] and it had a Carlos Santana-type sound with a slow, hard beat. At this time a crowd gathered peacefully around the front stage, which for this show was a pretty motivated group of people since it was all reserved seating at the front. Crowes fans know that Chris prefers the crowd on its feet, and there were many people more than happy to help out. They introduced another new song, something called "Wiser Time" that is a slow song with harmonics done very well by Chris and Rich. This song had a country flavor to it, with dueling lead guitars reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The other new song they introduced off their next album is something Chris called "High Head Blues" and it has a definite Reggae sound to it. After they tried out the new material, they got the crowd back in to it by playing some well-liked tunes, such as "Jealous Again" and "Remedy". That ended the set unfortunately, but it was a unique show in that the crowd got to hear new music of the next album before the album was actually available. The new stuff that they played appears to be more mellow and doesn't have quite the same edge that harder songs from the previous two releases had. It will be interesting to hear all the new material it once it is available. After the Crowes show, the Allman Brothers had the Crowes come up to perform a song with them- don't know the name of the song but it sounded good [Southbound D.F.]. The Allman Bros. are are truly the Obi-Wan's of southern rock music, and the Crowes appeared tickled to death to be on stage with them. The Crowes- for those of you that aren't aware- have covered a previous Allman Brothers tune "Dreams" on a UK release. It is obvious that the Crowes are influenced by The Allman Bros. and respect them very much, plus it was nice to see them both on stage doing a song together! The HORDE show unfortunately will not have both these bands at all the tour stops, so those of you that caught the Crowes and Allman Brothers on stage together at the HORDE festival got to witness something special. Greg Allman bid them farewell when they left the stage by saying to the crowd in his Southern burly bar-room voice- "How 'Bout Them Crowes?!?!"