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As the Allman Brothers Band get more comfortable in New York’s Beacon Theatre, their home for the rest of March, more friends are stopping by each night to jam. Rolling Stone brought you a full report from night one, which featured Taj Mahal and Levon Helm. Night two brought Johnny Winter and David Hidalgo and Cesar Rojas of Los Lobos, who guested on cuts ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan.
Last night’s show upped the ante with living legend Buddy Guy, who led the band through a pair of blues standards before being joined onstage by Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell of Phish for first set-closer “Southbound.” Fresh off their highly successful reunion shows, Anastasio and McConnell later added their own sound to “I Know You Rider” and “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.”
Boz Scaggs has been confirmed to appear tonight, and Rolling Stone’s Smoking Section broke the news that Duane’s old Derek and the Dominoes bandmate Eric Clapton will be appearing on March 19th and 20th. The newest list of rumored cameos counts Sheryl Crow, Billy Gibbons, Kid Rock, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh among the possibilities. Many of the guests were chosen to help honor fallen guitarist Duane Allman, whose sudden death in 1971 left a gaping hole that was briefly filled by Warren Haynes and later by slide-guitar prodigy Derek Trucks in 2000.
Gregg Allman, the band’s patriarch, has denied on multiple occasions that founding guitarist Dickey Betts will appear. Betts left the band after an ugly dispute in 2000, but rampant speculation suggests an offer may have been extended. His presence on the Beacon stage would reunite the four surviving members of the original lineup (Allman, Betts, drummer Butch Trucks and percussionist Jaimoe Johanson).
The sold-out, 15-night residency runs through March 28th. Live streaming video of the entire rest of the run can be purchased at Moogis, a live-concert video service started by the band’s own Butch Trucks. The shows mark 20 years of visits to the Beacon for the Brothers, who are celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2009.
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