First time seeing the Black Crowes for me was August 15, 1992. The Crowes performed a free show at G. Ross Lord Park in Toronto, Ontario to celebrate the 15th birthday of our local radio station Q107. It was packed… and we wiggled our way towards the soundboard. When we got there some of the members of the Kids In The Hall were right beside us. 16 Years later …Kids In The Hall member Mark Mckinney walked right past us out front of Massey Hall.

I saw them again in 2005 at the Kool Haus with my wife and we loved the show. It was a real Rock and Roll concert. So for this show I asked a good friend of mine to say a few words about his take on The Black Crowes at Massey Hall……………..  Jeff

………

Yeah, Seeing Things For The First Time

It is customary that when reviewing a concert that the reviewer be very familiar with the band’s catalogue and history, citing songs played and the albums they are from etc.  I am not familiar enough with the Black Crowes to be able to do that, like many I remember them being very big in the early nineties with Shake Your Money Maker, and although I know they have continued to produce albums and tour I paid them little notice except for the occasional news story about their front man marrying that famous girl.  I’d heard enough however to know that they were a live act worth hearing and since I no longer attend as many concerts as I once did I tend to be a little more selective about who I see.  The Black Crowes were near the top of my list containing ‘bands I haven’t seen but would like to’, add Massey Hall to the equation and there I was.

……

I missed the opening act unfortunately and when I found my seat I noticed immediately the smell of incense, it was like visiting that cool hippie friend that always has incense burning.   A large man standing behind a soundboard on stage left introduced them as “Your friends, the Black Crowes.”  The band sauntered out in (more…)

Seconds before the start of this concert I decided to head up front near the stage. As I got within a few feet of the right corner I noticed a piece of the stage that was calling me. “Come over here and lean on me… and feel the music” So I did.

What a good move this proved to be as Dark Side Of The Moon started to unfold around me. This performance crept up on me, then behind me and finally back into the depths of my music sweetspot. Never have I stood here in the 5 years of coming to the Phoenix. Speak To Me and Breathe… drew me in… easily just on lead vocals alone. Rob Philips has Floyd in is blood. He kind of gives off that feeling that if someone missed their vocal he could do 2 voices at the same time… or if a drum beat was missed he would tap his guitar somehow and make it all sound ok. The baahaa’s and mumbling in the background always sounds so right. Standing right in front of Mr sound-fx himself it was nice to catch the vocal contribution from Murray up close as he and Leslea layered into the songs where required. (more…)

Aerosmith by Classic Albums Live

I had a front row seat for Grand Funk Railroad for Friday night this week in Niagara Falls. So I was not planning on going to this Aerosmith show. With plans to go north for 4 days… Two shows in a row before you back up the family is a tough juggle so I gave my front row to a friend who lives close by the venue and decided to get my guitar injection before going to cottage country with Classic Albums Live’s presentation of “Toys In The Attic” and “Rocks“.

I bolted downtown and skipped by the guy selling fake $10 tickets out front. The light crowd tonight only means I stand closer than usual. Aerosmith was never heavy on roatation in my teen years and to be honest I probably know very little about this era of Aerosmith. Other then Walk This Way, Last Child and Sweet Emotion I don’t know every little riff and lyric like many of the other shows I see from CAL representing Classic Rock. In the end it didn’t really mater because I got what I get on every visit to a Classic Albums Live Show… I got Rocked! You get to stand in front of Journeymen for the price of double martini. It’s a steal every month and the hardcore fans know it.

Side 1 was when I realized.. “hey I don’t know all of this”… but holy-raw-garage-rock…man… we’re not talking about Love In An Elevator kinda rock either. So I was being schooled in early Aerosmith and most of all got to see, feel and hear what surrounded “Walk This Way” and Sweet Emotion”.

Sweet Emotion hit… and it hit HARD! Ya I know it’s a radio staple and all but Dom had that talk-box guitar action bang on along with the rest of the band showing off their teeth to each other! This was that one number by Aerosmith that when it came on while in the car…back in the day… we turned it up and shut up. (and drove a little faster) - This was beautiful.

Sure the Aerosmith I know was off later albums which seem to make me watch even closer and got me wondering how close the songs I didn’t know were to the album. This was raw stuff and I liked it. The players were having fun. The stage was full. We got to see the mini orchestra in the back compliment the rock show up front with inspiring vocals from a front man who was built to last.

Learning about Classic Albums…

There is a backdoor reason to why I enjoy these shows. I learn from them. There are albums and songs I thought I knew well and didn’t. Sometimes I revisit the material before a show or even do some research behind the album’s theme, lyrics etc. Other times it makes me pick an album or group up for listening again.

Back In The Saddle and Last Child were a great back to back combo. Last Child for me was always a favourite from back in high school. Not sure why… just loved that funky beat and Tylers vocal delivery is stellar… Here is the CAL (cowbell heavy) version……

On side 2 of ROCKS…Phil Naro mentioned that Nobody’s Fault was his favourite. So I figured he would hit this one out of the park. So I grabbed the video for this one even though I really didn’t know it. Loud. Yes…. This was one of those one’s that blows your hair back like in that old Maxell tv commercial. So when I got home I searched for this song on youtube so I could hear it and listen to Aerosmith do it.. I found it and watched it along side the video I took of this song. WOW. Deadly song. Yes I played both videos at the same time.… and came up with some interesting moments.

If you want to get into the experiment that I did for a few minutes I have put the original Aerosmith video below the Nobody’s Fault version by Classic Albums Live musicians also so you can try and sync them up.

The outcome is not perfect all the way thru… but here are the times you can try and sync up to check out what I was playing with.

Set Video 1 at the .25 second mark and keep on pause.

Set Video 2 at the .23 second mark and keep on pause.

Then hit the play button on video 1 first and quickly go right to video 2 and click play right away. You can pause one or the other to try and get things right but if you hit this the way I describe above from .25sec to 1:30 or so the versions are very close! There they float away from each other abit until exactly 3:20.

If you can get both videos running from 3:20 and on... the final screams from Tyler and Naro are deadly followed by some crazy guitar syncros until the end.

While doing this experiment I just realized after 10-15 listens that I could hear where a Motley Crue may have got some influence … along with a handful of other bands including Slash who has mentioned it was his favourite tune from the Toxic Twins.

From the guitarist on the left to the cowbell on the right and then straight back thru smiling JB-Bass-man and Sascha on drums…this line-up stepped up and brought layers of hard edged rock to the Phoenix.

I enjoyed the show as well as learning more about Aerosmith’s early years.

Jeff

To see more of our photos from the show visit our Flickr Page here

Upcoming shows for the Classic Albums Live Series here