As some of you might know, The Allman Brothers Band made its historic return to Piedmont Park last Saturday. The little jam band from Macon hadn't been there for over 30 years. In fact, at the time they were last there, they were playing free concerts. Big difference now, huh?

Getting there was stressful considering I had directions to Dunwoody Station for 111 Hammond Drive, not 1111 Hammond Drive. There is actually a huge difference between the two considering the former is a space in an office park. Nevertheless, I got to the MARTA station, and it was packed! The towels and tie-dye told me we were all going to the same place. When the full train stopped it had no one depart; only people load on. I was lucky to get one of the few open seats. The good news is, even though we were a sweaty mass of heat, we helped the environment as much as we could. Then all of us going to the festival were suddenly walking the blocked off streets near Piedmont Park. It was a river of people young and old.

Upon reaching the park, I learned the true meaning of packed, I swear. It was completely filled, and it was only the beginning, because the estimated 50,000 people were not all there yet. They had lots of nice little gimmicks like free seeds and recycling bins everywhere, even if the T-shirt I got was $45 (does it really cost so much more to produce tie-dye shirts?) I soon got over it and found a temporary place on the lawn for my blanket.

After some down time during which I thought I was dying of heat, Dave Matthews took the stage. He announced, "It is my great pleasure to introduce to you The Allman Brothers Band"and the boys began to start a quiet jam. After two or three guitar solos, they blasted off with their exciting show opening "Trouble No More"(which happens to be the same song they opened with the last time they played Piedmont). Due to the extensive jamming on each of the songs, except "Midnight Rider"which is always kept close to the time it is on their studio albums, I will be talking a lot more about the musicianship. Trust me, there's a lot to talk about. For starters, the band recently acquired probably the best young guitarist out there right now, Derek Trucks, who's uncle Butch Trucks has been with the band since their beginnings. This relatively new addition to the music scene plays like no one else I've ever seen. He has such an intense fury behind each of his solos and even short fills, and his slide guitar work is reminiscent of Duane's, which is definitely saying something.

"Trouble No More"was followed by the hope filled song that opened their 1972 iconic album, Eat A Peach. This one's called "Ain't Wastin' Time No More"and it's one of my personal favorites. Now, everyone of course recognizes that soulful opening piano passage. Gregg Allman, born December 8th 1947 (four years to the day after the birth of "The Lizard King"), is very near to sixty but still rockin'. You can feel the inspiration and determination behind each keyboard lick he's playing and each measure of one of their iconic blues songs that he plays, and it sure excites the audience.

After "Ain't Wastin' Time No More", the band discussed (for the first of many times to come) which song to play next. They are known for having a very different set list each night they play. One night, you might hear all hits, the next all deep cuts, you never know. Everyone of course recognized the familiar riff opening their first instrumental of the night, "Hot'lanta", a fantastic song that was one of the many made famous by their by-far greatest album, 1971's At Fillmore East.

Then Warren Haynes, their other guitarist, took the mic for the first time that night, and led the band in "Woman Across the River", an old Freddie King song, and the boys brought "the blues" to the next level. Although the band plays this song frequently, it is not familiar to most. So to compensate for this, they extracted an old crowd favorite from the vault: "Midnight Rider". Of course this started a crowd sing-along, however everyone but me and a few others were silent during the second line of the first verse - apparently it must be hard to remember - but the crowd made up for it with an enthusiastic "I've got...one...more...silver dollar.....".

The song finished fast because, like I said before, it is probably the only song they don't jam on, and they brought the blues back with the historic opener for At Fillmore East, "Statesboro Blues", creating another uproar amongst the crowd. Not all of this uproar was good though, because it was during this song that a fight broke out about 30 feet from me. Come on folks, who fights during an Allman Brothers concert?

Muddy Waters' classic "Hoochie Coochie Man"came up after this, preceded by a jam similar to that beginning the concert, only longer. It was around this time I stopped caring about who was fighting and what-not, and so did pretty much everyone else around me.

"Come And Go Blues", a song familiar to most of us, graced our ears next. This song was another song that showcased Gregg's keyboard talents, and it wasn't long until the crowd went wild upon hearing the familiar opening guitar riff of "One Way Out" - a song featuring on a longer jam than the ones before it, and that's saying something, as you'll find out later it was definitely not the longest.

"Black Hearted Woman", a song Gregg wrote early on in his career before even joining the Brothers, was played next, serving to pump up the crowd even more.

The climax of the concert was the classic instrumental "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and I could've written my whole review on this song itself. In its studio and At Fillmore East versions, it stunned guitar players everywhere with its creativity. So imagine that, except live in front of your very eyes, and this was no normal 11-15 minute "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". After the song was played through once, we were treated to a guitar solo by both Warren Haynes and Derek. Now, I know I keep talking about Gregg Allman being showcased on keyboard by certain songs, but none of those moments compared to his obviously heart-felt organ solo following the guitar solos. After this, Gregg, Derek, and Warren left the stage, leaving bassist Oteil Burbridge and the three drummers and percussionists Jaimoe, Butch Trucks, and Marc Quiñones on their own. Oteil stunned all of us with his phenomenal bass solo, this guy could stand up against even John Enwistle, John Paul Jones, and Geddy Lee. Then, he left the stage beginning what lots of fans thought was the most boring part of the concert, the drum, or should I say drums, solo (those poor drummers). As many failed to notice, this solo was fascinating (though I must say hearing Neil Peart's solo at the Rush concert was more fantastic, but who can match that?) and each of the drummers' individual talents were shown.

The boys took back the stage to end the song. This was by far the longest song and greatest jam of the night. Although I'm not sure of the exact time, I heard rumors of 45-50 minutes, but don't quote me on that. This classic ended the concert.

Or did it? The band appeared on stage one last time (thanks to the constant yelling of the man behind me, who claimed it was he who brought them back) to play an old favorite of any Allman Brothers' fan. The crowd went insane when the instantly recognizable bass guitar opening of "Whipping Post" filled our ears. This song was jammed out in a style reminiscent to that in which they jammed it out on At Fillmore East and then they closed the show.

Over all, the concert was phenomenal, but there were a few drawbacks. The biggest of these was the lack of volume. It was either the band was too quiet or the men behind me who didn't seem to be there for any real reason at all were too loud. Other than that, and the fact that the venue was packed, I can't think of anything that dampered my enjoyment of the concert, besides the realization that I spent $45 on a T-shirt. Tie-dye is worth it though, right?

-JJ Posway

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