Happiness with the Black Crowes at the Capitol Theatre

The Black Crowes had a busy 2024. In March, the hard-rocking band released Happiness Bastards, its 10th studio album and first original album in 15 years, since 2009’s Before the Frost… Until the Freeze. To promote the new album, the band performed a 35-date headlining tour in the spring, which included New York City performances at the Music Hall of Williamsburg and Radio City Music Hall.

The Black Crowes were scheduled to close 2024 as the support act for Aerosmith’s Peace Out tour, until Aerosmith announced in August the cancellation of its tour due to lead singer Steven Tyler's ongoing vocal cord injuries. The Black Crowes subsequently extended its own headlining tour at a more relaxed pace, encompassing another 14 headlining dates across three months. Just days after Happiness Bastards was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album, the Happiness Bastards (The Reprise) tour closed with two performances at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, a suburb of New York City.

On this tour, the veteran rock band celebrated its 40^th anniversary, although this time span was interrupted a few times. The Black Crowes, formed in 1984 in Atlanta, Georgia, had a successful initial career, then split in 2002, reformed from 2005 to 2015, and rebranded again with a new lineup in 2019. The sole remaining founding members, brothers Chris Robinson on vocals and harmonica and Rich Robinson on guitar, still lead the band’s musical direction. The touring ensemble presently includes longtime bassist Sven Pipien, and three recently added musicians, keyboardist Erik Deutsch, lead guitarist Nico Bereciartua, and drummer Cully Symington. Lesley Grant and Mackenzie Adams provide background vocals.

The Black Crowes’ two tour-ending concerts would be the first time that Westchester County saw any semblance of the Black Crowes since 2018. During the band’s most recent hiatus, lead singer Chris Robinson and his interim band, As the Crowe Flies, performed at the Capitol Theatre. The Black Crowes unexpectedly reunited a second time a year later. The cancellation of Aerosmith’s 2024 Peace Out tour allowed for the Happiness Bastards (The Reprise) tour to extend to the New York suburbs.

The staging was kept simple on this second leg of the tour, with only a Happiness Bastards banner lining the back wall. George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, led by the former bassist of the Meters, provided a strong opening set. After intermission, AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)” blared through the theater’s public address system, calling the fans back into the main room from the concession stands.

From the first notes of a new song “Bedside Manners,” the band was lit as hot as a firecracker. A high-energy Chris Robinson, dressed in Santa Claus colors with a white shirt and red suit, commanded the spotlight as he sang heartfully and shimmied across the stage throughout the performance. Contrastingly, Rich Robinson and the other musicians maintained their post for much of the show, simply jamming on the rock and soul rhythms. The Robinson brothers shared the spotlight on an elongated version of “Thorn in My Pride,” during which they volleyed with each other, Chris scatting a melody into his microphone and Rich repeating it as a guitar riff, until Chris wrapped the tune with his harmonica. While Rich Robinson seemed more present on stage, the more subtle Bereciartua did much of the heavy lifting, driving the bulk of the guitar leads during the set.

Like on the first night, the set on the second night was a mix of fan favorites, cover songs and deep cuts. The band drew most of its set from the first two Black Crowes albums and the most recent collection, almost completely bypassing the band’s mid-period. On Sunday night at the Capitol Theatre, the band repeated only three songs — “Hard to Handle,” “Jealous Again” and “Remedy” — from Saturday’s concert.

A hundred cameras appeared throughout the throng of fans each time the Black Crowes began an older song. The audience roared approval as the musicians launched into “Hard to Handle”, “Thorn in My Pride”, “Jealous Again” and “Remedy.” Newer songs, including “Bedside Manners”, “Rats and Clowns” and “Wilted Rose” also were received well. As for the deepest of the deep cuts, the band performed a rarity, “Exit,” a song recorded only on the 2010 live album, Wiser for the Time.

The cover songs revealed the Black Crowe’s influences. The band reinvented the Rolling Stones’ “Rocks Off,” Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” the Velvet Underground’s “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” and the Undisputed Truth’s “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” during the main set. For the encore, the band covered the Rolling Stones’ “Torn and Frayed” and debuted a live version of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run.” Chris introduced the final song before the holiday break by wishing the crowd, “Happy Holidays! Especially you pagans.”

The Black Crowes enjoyed the greatest commercial success in the early 1990s, when the band sold 30 million albums. The newest album generated solid reviews yet charted lower than any previous Black Crowes album. The mainstream public is no longer as supportive of true rock and roll music. Nevertheless, at the Capitol Theatre, the Black Crowes proved to be a more than viable live rock band. Even after 40 years, the band remains a standard bearer for hard rock and roll music.

Setlist

1. Bedside Manners
2. Rats and Clowns
3. Thick n' Thin
4. Go Tell the Congregation
5. Exit
6. Rocks Off (The Rolling Stones cover)
7. My Morning Song
8. Seeing Things
9. Hard to Handle (Otis Redding cover)
10. Soul Singing
11. Oh! Sweet Nuthin' (The Velvet Underground cover, with lead vocals by Rich Robinson and Chris Robinson offstage)
12. Thorn in My Pride
13. Flesh Wound
14. Papa Was a Rollin' Stone (The Undisputed Truth cover)
15. Wilted Rose
16. Jealous Again
17. Remedy

Encore

1. Torn and Frayed (The Rolling Stones cover)
2. Run Rudolph Run (Chuck Berry cover)

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The Manhattan Beat reports on New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

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