In - Nashville, TN)

This is the 2nd show in less than a year in the Nashville area and once again he had a stage full of guests. The other show (4/15/99 - 527 Main Street) was in Murfreesboro back b4 the ABB Summer Tour. Allen Woody, Jack Pearson & William House showed up at that one. This show, last Friday at the Exit/In brought in some out-of-town guests to make for a wonderful evening.

Derek's management had requested that everybody get to the show early enough to see the opener, Soulive. None of us had a clue who they were or where they came from or what they were about we just knew that if Derek and 'em were looking forward to the set we would probably like them too. We saw a flashback to the 50s New York jazz scene. Soulive is an organ/guitar/drum trio. Their sound was very fresh and funky, a mix of Galactic and MMW but with more of a solid Jimmy Smith/Grant Green kinda thing. They all dressed in suits and the guitarist played a wide body Ibanez. It was easy to see what Derek & company liked these guys. It's solid stuff and it' very reminiscent to the era of Jazz that Derek has picked up on. All of DTB came out front to watch the band play and Derek had the biggest smile on his face. I'll tell you that the organist played the most solid bass lines I've heard from a B3 since I saw Bill Willis with Jimmie Vaughan. About 1/2 thru the set the real festivities began... Oteil Burbridge was invited up to play. He grooved to what the band was doing and then jumped in with some of his amazing chordal playing. At one point a friend suggested that he sounded like he was playing a keyboard. Oteil is amazing. Next up? Derek! Oteil stayed up while Derek joined in on, as usual, some very tasty slide. That was fun, what a great way to start the night.

Bob Marley is one of a very few artists who I know have/had a very deep connection to something spiritual, something very large and when I hear his songs done with as much style as DTB does this I feel Bob's power, which fills me with so much joy I want to scream and dance!

Derek and crew finally hit the stage but it was Todd, Rico, Oteil (2 bassists to start the set, Oh Boy!), Derek & Bill (yes, Bill is playing on this tour instead of Kofi) were waiting in the wings. The groove of "5 minutes" (which started with just the 2 bassists and Rico) slowly became recognized as "Rastaman Chant" (which brings a tear to my eye as I think about it). Bob Marley is one of a very few artists who I know have/had a very deep connection to something spiritual, something very large and when I hear his songs done with as much style as DTB does this I feel Bob's power, which fills me with so much joy I want to scream and dance!

To have these two bassists and this drummer playing off each other was beautiful; I cannot think of a better way for my (almost) birthday show to start!! After a few minutes Derek and Bill joined in and Derek played this song with so much style and soul. If he didn't make fans with his playing on this he wouldn't! The remainder of the show featured songs from both DTB albums with Neal Evans (Soulive), Will Elder and Oteil sitting in or several songs, including Miles Davis' "Tutu". The 1st HUGE surprise was Susan Tedeschi coming out and leading the band in Jr. Wells' "Little By Little." I didn't even know she was in the house! She's good, she's got a gritty Bonnie Raitt thing happenin' and she can play some guitar. Another big surprise was Oteil taking over bass - Todd actually left the stage - and proceeding to sing the Col. Bruce song "Jack The Rabbit"! I saw him sing that with ARU on numerous occasions and this was no less memorable. The 1st encore included the last guest of the night, Allen Woody! Allen was a bad man but he was a bit intoxicated and maybe a little unfamiliar with the song so it wasn't his best performance. Neal came back on organ and we were treated to a very loose but jamming "Cissy Strut". The 2nd encore was unexpected. The band came out for a great "Yield Not To Temptation/Lovelight" with Todd on lead vocals!

This was a great show, a great start to a tour and a great way to celebrate MY birthday!!!!!