The Allman Brothers Band - Live at the Beacon (2003)
New York City, New York - March 25-26, 2003 - Sanctuary

Comments: The Allman Brothers' strong, occasionally startling set on this DVD may soften those intransigent purists who won't accept the band without its original (and now fired) guitarist, Dickey Betts. The group's classic dual-guitar sound is capably covered by returning member Warren Haynes and rising star Derek Trucks (young nephew of Allmans' drummer Butch Trucks), who sounds as if he's lived and breathed the late Duane Allman's playbook since he left the cradle. Derek's barbed riffs feed the textured funk of "Statesboro Blues" and get some mileage out of filler like "Come and Go Blues," but the blissful-looking fellow's supreme moment comes when he joins Haynes in a blisteringly beautiful attack on gospel stunner "Soul Shine." Some of the material here borders on the pedestrian, but vocalist-keyboardist Gregg Allman's grizzled mastery of the blues can still lead this legendary band through some epic mysteries. --Tom Keogh