DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS IN PEEKSKILL, NY (SLIGHTLY TARDY REVIEW)

First off, the picture here is from Prefix, which I recommend you check out. I took pictures at the gig on my Droid phone.  I dig my Droid, but the camera lens isn't great - as you may have noticed by some of the other pictures I've posted from concerts!

Secondly, sorry for posting  a review days late!  Got home late Thursday, went out Friday night and saw five movies yesterday!

So, on to the review.  I was really looking forward to the show after the last time I saw the band at Brooklyn Bowl. It's interesting how different venues can change the vibe of a show. Brooklyn Bowl was a really rocking, general admission place, and the show was right before New Year's Eve. The show I saw this week was at the Paramount Center For The Arts in Peekskill, New York, a lovely theater that was about 55 miles upstate from NYC. Totally different vibe, but the thing about Drive-By Truckers is that they have several modes. They can play to the beer-y New York rock crowd (their cover of Jim Carroll's "People Who Died" was perfect for that show) and also for an older, more sit-down crowd.

I loved the show in Peekskill.  I will say that one main difference from the Brooklyn Bowl show was that it was a bit more laid back - which makes sense, it was at a sit-down venue that hosts concerts by Robert Cray and B.B. King and folks like that. The show started a bit mellow, with Mike Cooley leading the band through "Carl Perkins' Cadillac." Cooley was amazing - I think he is a bit underrated because Patterson Hood is so much more high profile, but that's fine, the fans know that both guys are essential to the band's greatness.  "Ghost To Most" and "Marry Me" and "Self Destructive Zones" are incredible songs.  But Patterson had a great night too.  One of the highlights of the show was their cover of Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long" (" 'Sweet Home Alabama,' play that dead man's song...") sung by Patterson.  But my favorite part of the night was "Let There Be Rock" - no, not the AC/DC classic, but a song about the AC/DC classic (it's actually really about loving rock music, and also names Blue Oyster Cult, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads). It's one of those Patterson Hood "sermons" that damn near moves me to tears ("18 Wheels Of Love" and "A World Of Hurt" are the others).

The other highlight was their cover of a sort of obscure song by a guy named Eddie Hinton, "Everybody Needs Love," which is the centerpiece of their great new album Go-Go Boots. I'll do a separate post about that album, I'm still not sure if I love it as much as last year's The Big To-Do.  But I predict that that will be my favorite song of 2011, early as it is.  I'm an optimist, and I love songs like that.  I think it may be my "You Are Not Alone" for this year.