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October 24, 2020

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Southern rockers, Blackberry Smoke played an outstanding acoustic show at the beautiful Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre on a perfect fall evening.

 

This was the second show that the venue has hosted this year.  All the safety precautions were taken as guests were asked to wear masks as they walked around the facility.  Seats close to the stage were socially distanced and were grouped in pods of two and four.  Fans on the lawn were spread out and kept at least six feet from each other.  A representative from JAC Management Group said that they sold about 1000 tickets for the 4800 seat amphitheatre, which is about 20% of their capacity.  

 

Blackberry Smoke is a band that can play almost any style of music.  They can flat out rock when they want to, they can throw a southern twang in their music, giving them a southern rock feel, and then they can go old school country.

 

This particular evening they did a full acoustic set with all of the guitarists sitting on stools.  Lead singer Charlie Starr told the audience that they were happy that Paul Turner joined the band for the show because he was being held together by staples and stitches as he recently  had hernia surgery.  

 

That may have been the reason for the acoustic show.

 

The fans really ate up the laid back vibe of the show, on this cool, fall evening.  

 

Early in the set, the band flawlessly played two fan favorites “Good One Coming On” and “Pretty Little Lie.”

 

In honor of Tom Petty’s birthday the band broke into a great cover of “You Got Lucky” with a snippet of “Losing My Religion.”

 

Starr thanked Kevin Costner for including some of their music in his show Yellowstone.  He noted that the band met Costner about ten years ago and he seemed less than impressed with them.  They then played “What Comes Naturally” which was featured in Season 2 of the series. 

 

Knowing exactly where he was, Starr sang a couple of lines from Springsteen’s “Youngstown.’ Then, in a surprise the band jammed out a great version of “Hangman Jury,”  a deep album track from Aerosmith’s Permanent Vacation album. 

 

With weather threatening, Starr told the audience that it was time to play the songs that they wanted to hear.  “I Ain’t Got The Blues Anymore” became a sing-a-long as did “One Horse Town.”

 

 “Ain’t Much Left Of Me” also featured “Mississippi Kid” to close the ninety minute set, just before the rains came.  

Thanks to JAG Management for moving up the start time so we could get the full concert in.

 

Up and coming Southern rockers, The Wild Feathers played a very spirited thirty minute set.  I believe they won many fans over and they are a band you should keep an eye on. 

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Review and photos by Greg Drugan

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