America’s premier blues band delivered premier blues
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana --There’s nothing special about the Alabama Shakes. Its sound isn’t a new one, nor is it revolutionary.
In truth, when they took the stage in Indianapolis on Tuesday night, the group resembled more of a house blues band than a group that recently had the No. 1 selling album in America, Sound & Color.
But the Shakes wasn’t out of place inside the downtown park (Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park). If anything, the band took the audience down south in a 90-minute tent revival, filed with enough muddy blues and stirring soul to make an audience feel like it left a time machine. Which is ironic, especially with the show’s first song “Future People.”
It was a concert that resembled a jamboree, with lead singer Brittany Howard conducting a fiery locomotive through another set on the band’s first national headlining tour.
Howard, who packed enough energy in each song to trigger a collapse from exhaustion, trotted around the stage, delivering slinky blues riffs so recognizable there’s no way they could be original, let alone from 2015.
Yet one thing could be made certain: Howard’s voice is so powerful, she easily takes the crown as rock’s best female singer — by an Alabama country mile.
That’s what makes the Alabama Shakes so impressive. It’s not that the group relies on her voice to carry the band. The band doesn’t carry Howard along either. It’s a gelling, so pure Dr. Scholls’ feet would have a hard time standing still during “Hang Loose” or “Gimme All Your Love.”
Perhaps it was the interaction from the crowd that kept the show flowing.
Before the band snuck into “Miss You,” Howard told a short story about her friend, “Ricky,” doing a short stint in jail, triggering in the audience begging for poor Ricky’s mercy.
“Be Mine,” while certainly not one of its more popular songs, was the rebel-rouser that invoked the best feedback from the crowd, which made it feel like the nine-piece band and audience were combined.
The biggest mystery from not only the show, but also the whole tour, has been the constant absence of “Hold On” from the setlist. While it was the song that brought the band fame, clearly it’s not going to sustain it.
The Alabama Shakes isn’t a one-off band. Moreover, two albums in, and it’s stuck in limbo searching for that unique sound to carry it into the future.
In regards to the show Tuesday night, it could’ve been a song to carry the band through the latter of the show when Howard was clearly wearing herself down after combating all-out exertion all evening.
“Hold On” or not, it was a fantastic show from America’s premier blues-rock band.
As the Shakes came out for its encore, Howard looked out into the crowd and said, “Maybe it’s just the full moon, but y’all cool.”
Full moon or not, the Alabama Shakes was pretty cool, too.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
