1971-July-17 Early Show Allman Brothers Municipal Auditorium Atlanta, GA Disc 1 - 41.13 1 Statesboro Blues 7.27 2 Trouble No More 3.59 3 Don't Keep Me Wonderin' 3.55 4 Done Somebody Wrong 3.39 5 One Way Out 4.47 6 Midnight Rider 4.01 7 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed 13.22 Disc 2 - 43.01 1 Hot 'Lanta 6.29 2 You Don't Love Me 18.56 3 Whipping Post 17.35 The below review comes from Hophead, who attended this show (the last time he saw Duane) and wrote this article for Les Brers, Issue #2. I got this article from the great ABB "Hittin' The Web" site. The Last Show in Atlanta This is no ordinary day. There is a tangible energy pulsing throughout the city - no matter what radio station I listen to, it seems like a cut from Fillmore East is playing. People are smiling everywhere I look; the anticipation is a palpable force. After all, this is Atlanta! It’s been six months since the Brothers last played at home - the longest wait ever, and I’m used to seeing them play for free every weekend in the Park. They’re a local band, an Atlanta band; they are our boys making good. And the long-awaited live album is finally available. As much as I love their records, I know that the essence of the Allman Brothers Band is as a live experience. Now the album which would really capture their music had finally been released. Everyone could know them as we do. But as much a I like the Fillmore East album, I’ve heard the Brothers play better sets practically every time I’ve seen them here in Atlanta. And they haven’t played here since January! I feel deprived! I’m ready for my fix! I am well prepared for the experience. They’re coming back with two shows in a single day at the old Municipal Auditorium. I’ve listened to them play four hours at a time or longer on occasion, but this is the first time they’ve booked a matinee and an evening show. I have the same fifth row left of center seats for both shows, directly in front of Duane. Driving to the afternoon show, the streets are packed with smiling people headed the same direction. It’s a new feeling, going to the Auditorium while the sun is up. The matinee is just short of sold out - only a few empty seats are left in the back of the horseshoe. The crowd is not disappointed. While waiting to begin, the stage is pitch black. Then the house lights are quickly lowered - suddenly, it’s so dark I can hardly see my hand in front of my face. I detect some movement on the stage, still indistinct in the darkness. But before the crowd can react, a heavenly sweet dweet-dwoo floats through the auditorium. It’s him! Brother Duane! Not a soul is sitting now! The audience is a single entity, transformed by the comfortable, familiar sensation - the Brothers are back, everything’s alright now. The matinee show is intense, easily outdistancing the tunes on Fillmore East - just as I’d expected. I knew I’d heard them play better here than on their live album from New York! The only thing to do now was to get them to record another live album, this time in front of an Atlanta crowd! Still, as good as the afternoon show had been, as much as it fulfilled my need for an Allman Brothers fix, something was missing. It hadn’t been quite sold out; maybe the Brothers were holding a little back for the evening show. And I was still dying to hear them play Dreams - I haven’t heard them play it in over a year, and it’s my favorite! If anything, the evening crowd is even more enthusiastic, the anticipation even more intense. It seemed like half the people had also been to the afternoon show. The evening show is a certified sell-out, and I can feel the presence of the band as I file to my seat. The opening is similar, only this time the crowd is already on its feet when the lights are dimmed. We are already anticipating that first heavenly sweet dweet-dwoo, knowing that no other guitarist in the world could play two notes that sounded like that. There it is! The amps are humming, the leslies spinning, and almost before I can comprehend what’s happening , I’m out of my seat, vibrating to Statesboro Blues. This is it! The Brothers are peaking! This is what I’ve been waiting for! Now I realized that the afternoon show had only been an appetizer - the audience is mesmerized by the ultimate power of this music. This is it! This is a rare conjunction in space and time of musicians, music, and audience with maximum potentiality. Every aspect of every song, from Duane’s stinging slide, to Dickie’s superb guitar work, to Gregg’s bluesy vocals was uniting listener and performer in an upward spiraling exchange of energy. Duane’s slide is somehow even hotter than before. Dickie is outstanding in Elizabeth Reed and Stormy Monday. The band and the audience are building each other to an incredible peak. Yes! They’re playing Dreams! My soul touched Heaven, while my body gripped a wooden theater seat. Six thousand people have their consciousness joined and elevated to incomprehensible heights. Even the little things, the sound mix, the lighting, the crowd are just perfect. During Duane’s lead in Mountain Jam, when he plays Will The Circle Be Unbroken slowly, almost like a hymn, overhead spots come on with filtered beams - Duane is transfigured. I am transcended. I can hear angels singing along with Duane’s guitar, and I can feel every one of the 6000 souls in the building sharing my energy. The one thing in my life that I will never forget is the sound of that crowd when the Brothers finished Mountain Jam. During the show I was bombarded with the delicious sound energy of the finest music I had heard. But in the end - the energy of the huge crowd behind me was stronger than anything that electricity had amplified. For over two hours, the wonderful music coming from that stage was the primary focus of 6000 very happy people. Now, suddenly, I was actually staggered by the force of a pure, blissful, spontaneous roar coming from 6000 voices united in ecstasy. The most incredible communal energy release I’ve ever experienced was melding performer and listener together in an indescribable cathartic bond. After that Mountain Jam, after that primal roar, what could they do as an encore? The Brothers were peaking, right along with the crowd. What must it have felt like to them, hearing, seeing, and feeling that kind of joyous response? They never even left the stage - we all knew they’d play another tune. The band broke into the uplifting strains of Revival, and as the concert wound down, the last time I saw Duane Allman play guitar - truly, love was everywhere.