mc2 Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 A friend of mine managed the ABB for their last 30 years. I just happened to find a cool web page with real early shots of the band, circa 1970-71, before they became famous. It is mainly a site dedicated to the Allmans performances in New Orleans, many at the famed Warehouse venue and also at Audubon Park. A couple things that pop out on the site. First, I had seen a shot of Berry Oakley before using a SUNN amp but apparently the Allmans had a good amount of SUNN. There is one shot that shows them with an entire SUNN Concert P.A. (State of the art back then and also the SUNN head Hendrix preferred for guitar.) Also, they have like EIGHT large SUNN Orion striped speaker cabs in their backline in many shots.....interesting because the Orion line was recalled and destroyed by SUNN, after The Who used them to record the Magic Bus LP and supposedly blew up like a truckload of them. SUNN realized the design flaw was that they have switched to solid state, with the separate heads as preamps and the power amps inside the speaker cabs. When the amps were driven hard, they heated up and the solid state chips failed. Somehow....the Allman Brothers seem to have retained all their Orions. This is the first time I have seen ANY band photographed with this many Orion cabs....except for an obvious promo shot of the guitarist of Blue Cheer in front of an entire wall of them, while SUNN was still promoting the new design. The second interesting thing to pop up on this site that I hadn't heard about before is....Peter Green joined them onstage for a long encore set at The Warehouse one night. There are also bootlegs available of many of these early shows. Anyway....a pretty cool site. http://www.blackstrat.net/Allman-Audubon/Allman-Audubon.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biz Prof Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Cool pics and interesting aanecdotes re: those Sunn cabs. My co-guitarist and I went through a deep ABB obsession back in '92-'93. We acquired several bootlegs and studied each solo's phrasing and tone. At that same time, we integrated covers of Blue Sky and a Jessica/Revival medley. To say that we were meticulous in our pursuit of note-for-note perfection is an understatement. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie G. Moseley Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Saw the original sextet at my college in '71, one month before they recorded Fillmore East. Another notable Southern Rock guitarist once told me "If you didn't see the original band, you didn't see the Allman Brothers." Hard to argue with such an observation, IMO. Saw 'em again 31 years later (!) in 2002 and they still opened with "Don't want you no more"; still great music. The band was allowing shows to be recorded (a la the Grateful Dead's "tapers") and I have a coupla CDs from the '02 show around here somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G Man Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Another fan, although Duanne died when I was 4 y.o. Saw later incarnations many times over the years. Unfortunately, I have heard rumors that Gregg is on his way to hospice, if not already there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc2 Posted April 24, 2017 Author Share Posted April 24, 2017 The first time I saw the Allman Brothers was at Watkins Glen "Summer Jam" weekend, with The Grateful Dead and The Band. I think that was the largest outdoor festival crowd ever. Sadly after both Duane and Berry were both gone by then. I kick myself for not seeing them at the Fillmore East. My best friend and I used to tell our parents that we were staying over at each other's house and take the train and subway into NYC when we were 15 y.o....90 min each way...to hit the Fillmore. Being 15, money was tight, so we could only hit a limited number of shows. I think we opted for Grand Funk Railroad, who were HUGE at the time, instead of the Allman Bros. Also saw the Mothers of Invention, Sea Train, Pacific Gas & Electric and others there. Amazing venue to experience as a kid....the best light shows and sound, friggin' hippies everywhere, the place was one giant cloud of pot. Just walking thru Greenwich Village section of NYC back then was a trip, passing the head shops and famous clubs. Can't believe we used to pull that scam off to see shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G Man Posted April 25, 2017 Share Posted April 25, 2017 I am glad to say, the rumors I mentioned above were indeed just that, as per the man himself. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/gregg-allman-denies-hospice-rumors-w478638 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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