Concert Review - PPL / ARS / MTB - Part 4, Marshall Tucker Band

 Time for the 4th and final installment of my reviews of last Saturday's concert.  Today, I'll discuss the headliner, The Marshall Tucker Band (MTB).

The Band:

MTB is certainly one of the best know of the 70's era southern rock bands.  At least in mycircle of friends back then.  The first 3 southern rock bands I had in my record collection were MTB, CDB (Charlie Daniels Band) and Lynyrd Skynyrd.    [my first Allman Brothers album was 1975's compilation].

MTB released 11 albums in the 1973-1982 time frame, the same basic windo as PPL and ARS.  But they continued to release new albums through 2007, with 22 studio albums over that 34 year span.  But their success was primarily during that 70's into 80's period.  But while they were staples of AOR Radio, they weren't really a singles band.  They only had 3 songs make the Top 40, with "Heard It In A Love Song" their highest charter, at #14.  But their "Can't You See" is one of the best (and most well known) songs of the genre.  I have their first 8 studio albums, and a live album that was based on a King Buscuit Flower Hour broadcast (that I used have recorded from the radio to cassette).  I've seen the band several times, including working backstage when they played at my college (January 1982).

The band had a very stable lineup, unchanged over their first 9 albums ('73--80),  And the first change was due to the death of Bassist Tommy Caldwell.  They've had quite a few changes since then, Wikipedia list s a whopping 36 current and former members!  As with PPL, and ARS (technically), MTB has only one original member:  Singer songwriter Doug Gray.

The Show

The band was great, really great.The playing was great, the band was super tight, and the sound was good.  So odd that PPL and MTB sounded good, while ARS was pretty muddled... Really great muscianship, which they brought out through extended jamming.  That said, Doug Gray was not is good voice.  I don't know if it was just his age, or if he was unwell, but he struggled quite a but.  He is 74, after all (as he pointed out).  But the rest of the band chipped in singing, so it was fine.  I was a little disappointed when they turned Heard It In A Love Song into a sing along, but that's just one of my "things"   They played a solid set, about 90 minutes, and only 8 songs (did I mention jamming?).

As far as the playlist, there was only one surprise, but it was a nice one.  They opened the set with a song by guitarist Chris Hicks, from his 2008 solo album.  

The setlist:

• Dog Eat Dog World (Chris Hicks song)
• Heard It in a Love Song
• Take the Highway
• Desert Skies
• Fire on the Mountain
• Blue Ridge Mountain Sky
• 24 Hours at a Time
• Can't You See

All in all, we had a great time, enjoyed an evening reliving the music of my teens.  Even and the players have changed, the music is still great