Warren Haynes: A True Musical Force of Nature
[Countless thanks to Brittany Firns and Wolfe Elliot Media for their great photos and
to Thor Bendicksenand George Papachristu for their collaboration with this article.]
There are few — if any — other musicians with the total incredible presence of Warren Haynes. Think Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, David Allan Coe, The Dickey Betts Band, The Dead, Phil Lesh Quintet, Ashes & Dust, Christmas Jam, Island Exodus, and countless other collaborations.
Other occasional projects include, appropriately, The Warren Haynes Band. In 2011, he recorded the album Man in Motion (2011) and also released a live album and video (2012). With Gov’t Mule on a break until their New Year’s run (one night in New Haven, two at The Beacon), Haynes put the band together again, and what a band! THE John Medeski anchors the proceedings on Hammond B3, clavinet, and piano. His Gov’t Mule bandmate Kevin Scott owns the low end in tight partnership with Terrance Higgins on drums, and the amazing Greg Osby on tenor saxophone rounds out the quintet.
This tour kicked off in Fort Lauderdale September 19, with successive nights in Fort Myers and Jacksonville, each night garnering rave reviews. And you know the the tried-and-true axiom: NEVER MISS A SUNDAY SHOW. That was the theme for the performance September 22 at The Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.
The setlist drew from numerous sources, including new material, some from the Warren Haynes Band of 2011-12, Gov’t Mule ass-kickings, Allman Brothers favorites, and several sweet covers. And this band is impossibly tight, fronted by two titans of our scene.
The first set opened with a lengthy introduction which yielded to “Tear Me Down,” a former WHB tune on most recent playlists and heavy on clavinet from Medeski (there was a joyous amount of clavinet throughout the night!).  “Go Down Swinging” was a bouncy tune, and the funk swing was strong with “A Friend to You” and “Terrified,” featuring fine solos from Osby and Haynes.Â
The band then boarded a rocket ship for the blastoff of “Man in Motion,” incredibly powerful, again with Osby and Haynes and a stunning turn from Medeski. The crowd really dug into a solid take on “Banks Of The Deep End,” and then it went really off the charts with the old ABB gem “Instrumental Illness,” an opportunity for everybody to stretch out. Scott had changed his bass for this one and was “walking” the entire tune, with Higgins trying to keep everybody in line. “Power & Glory” was appropriate punctuation for the end of set one.
It was time to take a little trippy and get trippy as the band slammed into “Lies, Lies, Lies.” After “Till The Sun Comes Shining Through,” three brilliant cover tunes splashed all over the Mahaffey, beginning with an interesting reworking of “Spanish Castle Magic,” the Hendrix gem. They followed that with one of the most importance songs of the last seven decades, destined to bring tears to the eyes: Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
Haynes and Co. lightened it up with a magnificent reading of “Pretzel Logic,” then old WHB favorite “Invisible.” When Scott hit those telltale notes for “Thorazine Shuffle,” everybody knew it was time for a good solid ass-kicking, and they delivered in spades to shut down set two.
Audiences this run have come to expect “Soulshine” for the encore, but instead this one began with a recent single, “Life As We Know It.” With a single beam of light on the keyboard wizard, this one was all John Medeski. As he wrapped that song up, he deliberately let slip the unmistakable intro to “Soulshine,” and the joyous fest was complete.
Haynes, Medeski, Scott, Osby, and Higgins are truly musical forces of nature. They are the very definition of POWER & GLORY!
[WHB: ONE: Intro > Tear Me Down, Go Down Swinging, A Friend To You, Terrified, Man In Motion, Banks Of The Deep End, Instrumental Illness, Power & Glory; TWO: Lies, Lies, Lies, Till The Sun Comes Shining Through, Spanish Castle Magic, A Change Is Gonna Come, Pretzel Logic, Invisible, Thorazine Shuffle; E: Life As We Know It, Soulshine]
