THE BLACK CROWES

THE BLACK CROWES (SFX, Dublin)

The Black Crowes, almost undisputed “Most Rock’n’Roll Band in the World” having frightened off the likes of great whining hop, Bobby Gillespie, at the weigh-in, deserved all the adulation they got tonight. Two hours of straight-ahead R’N’R stew – main ingredient blues, flavoured with country, jazz and Latin – is enough to keep all but the most trendy happy, and no one serves it up better.

Chris Robinson, so pale he could be the “Thin White Rook”, holds centre stage throughout, keeping the assembled entertained between songs with druggily drawled dry wit while giving the others a chance to slug down some Old No.7. But if spliffs and bourbon are high on his priority list but “the show” is top; no stoned half-performance is good enough, every song is sung as if it’s his last.

Brother Rich, on rhythm, adopts an angelic version of the ‘Just another day at the office’ pose, while going through a shopful of axes, most, presumably, in different tunings. Marc Ford also uses one or seventeen as the evening progresses. And why the fuck shouldn’t he when what he plays on them is so good? No twenty minute hammer-on fests here, just solos that are as imaginative and diverse as they are pithy and in context.

In the engine room, bassist Johnny Colt comes across like Satan himself, while tub-thumper Steve Gorman gets a bit of help from bongo-meister Chris Trujillo. Changes in the skins department were a large part of what made Amorica so interesting and this twin attack is a winner live too. So is Eddie Harsch’s contribution, tinkling various ivories, including the Crowes’ favourite Hammond.

Song-wise, the band’s three albums are fairly equally represented. If anything, Amorica, surprisingly, seemed underexposed. Strange considering that it hasn’t exactly set the charts on fire despite, or maybe because of, having a star-spangled beaver on the cover. ‘High-Head Blues’ and ‘P.25 London’ were among the tracks that did turn up, while ‘Cursed Diamond’ was one of those conspicuous by their absence. Shake Yer’ Moneymaker supplied the opener ‘Thick N’ Thin’ as well as ‘Jealous Again’ and, of course, ‘Hard To Handle’. Finally, the, ‘Sting Me’, ‘Hotel Illness’ and ‘Thorn In My Pride’ were plucked off Southern Harmony, as was the show closer ‘Remedy’ a song previously announced live as “the Black Crowes’ musical version of The Poseidon Adventure.”

Overall the arrangements are kept close to the album versions, with any changes or extensions serving to build up the tension rather than diffuse it, as so often happens during too many bands’ muso workouts. As was the order of the day on Amorica, the set is lean and tight without sounding over-rehearsed or stale.

That album was actually referred to by Chris Robinson as the Anna Nicole Smith record compared to Southern Harmony’s Kate Moss; the live show he maintained was more like a whole Russ Meyer movie. If you missed the gig you’re a twat but at least now you have an excuse to run out and buy Beneath The Valley Of The Ultravixens to console yourself.

• Graham Neilan