Blackberry Smoke BY MARK DOLEJS Blackberry Smoke came to the Durham Performing Arts Center Friday night for a late night party. At the b...
BY MARK DOLEJS
Blackberry Smoke came to the Durham Performing Arts Center Friday night for a late night party. At the beginning of the encore, Charlie Starr noticed someone headed for the door. He said, “Ma’am, you don’t want to leave yet. I know you want to beat the traffic, but it’s Friday night, fuck it - stay!”
The whole night was like a big party, and after all, it is Blackberry Smoke’s 25th anniversary. Most of the crowd stood for the whole show, singing and rockin’ out with the band. This is the third time in two years that I’ve seen these guys and they just keep getting better.
With Starr on lead vocals and guitar, he is surrounded by talent with Richard Turner on bass, Brandon Still on keyboards, and Kent Aberle on drums. Benji Shanks and Paul Jackson round out the group for that Southern rock guitar power trio.
The night was filled with sing-a-long songs. With 25 years under their belt so far, song after song felt like home, felt like everyone there was family. “Six Ways to Sunday,” “Till the Wheels Fall Off,” “You Hear Georgia,” and “Lesson in a Bottle” were enjoyed by all.
Starr introduced “What Comes Naturally,” a song that has been featured on the hit TV show Yellowstone, along with several other of the band's songs. Starr said, “I’m calling Kevin (Costner) out. That was a shitty thing to do. We came back for the last season and he was dead. They just expected us to accept that.” He then explained that he wasn’t really pissed, after all they did use quite a few of their songs.
Before playing “Azalea,” Starr said “If you would please join us in singing this one for brother Brit (Turner) tonight.” Brit Turner was a founding member of the band who passed away in 2024 after a hard fought battle with brain cancer.
I think the best surprises of the night were during several songs when the band would add in a portion of a cover from another band. This happened during “Sleeping Dogs” when they added in part of “Come Together” by the Beatles, and with “Run Away From It All,” when they added in a piece of “Pink Houses” by John Mellencamp.
The opener for the night was Jason Newsted and his band Chophouse. Newsted is a former bass player in Metallica and this apparently is the first tour that his new band is adventuring out on. For their set, Newsted played guitar and lead vocals. They played mostly covers, including The Carter Family’s “Bear Creek Blues” and Bob Dylan’s “Rita May.” But, most impressive was his cover of Mark Twain’s 1904 poem “The War Prayer.”
Before the night was over, Blackberry Smoke invited Newsted back to the stage during the encore for a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave.” Wow, great sound on this song and Newsted rocked on the bass as the crowd was just as much into this song as any other through the night.
Finally, as is their tradition, they finished their set with “Ain’t Much Left Of Me.” What a wonderful song to end the show with, and just to spice it up a bit, they added in a portion of Van Halen’s “Take Your Whiskey Home.” As always, these guys put on a fantastic show and allowed all of us in attendance to escape the world for a short time, Thank You!
- [message]
- MARK DOLEJS
Photography is an avenue that
Mark Dolejs uses to learn about the people and places that cross his path. After more than 30 years as a photojournalist, Mark enjoys concert, macro, and roadside photography. Follow Mark on Instagram at @solidrockpix.
Read Mark's posts here.
COMMENTS