the best blues rock band in america? yes they are!
Pictures and Words: Jim Brown
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Reno – June 2024 - Grand Theatre at the Grand Sierra Resort
Music Fan Magazine was given the opportunity to attend the Tedeschi Trucks Band show in Reno, Nevada, and I can tell you it was a legitimate thrill to be in the same auditorium as Derek and Susan as they belted out a 2-hour set filled with songs from their 2023 albums and hits from their previous award-winning releases.
Music Fan Magazine has been a fan of the Tedeschi Trucks Band for the last eight or ten years, seeing them live in New York City for a sold-out show at the Beacon Theatre just a few years ago. And while I got to meet Susan Tedeschi after the show, it did not compare to being 5 feet away from her and Derek in the photo pit at this Reno venue, so close that I could see the signatures of music icons on her guitar that included B.B. King, Kris Kristofferson and Herbie Hancock....I thought I saw a Stevie Ray Vaughn on there, too (check out the photos to see if you can confirm). When the lights dimmed and Susan and Derek stepped to the front of the stage, I knew this show was going to kick ass.
The sold-out crowd was especially pumped after getting a warmup set from Little Feat, singing about Dixie Chickens and all things Southern, but they elevated themselves to another level as Derek threw his axe on and started a gentle assault of that fretboard. (It’s ok, it wasn’t a terrible thing, but that fretboard was getting taken to the senior prom...in a limo, if you know what I mean).
Susan stepped to the mic and lit into “Playing With My Emotions” from their 2023 album release “I Am The Moon: II Ascension,” which came across as a sweet southern-style song about somebody doing somebody wrong. “Take my money!” I said out loud, “I’ll buy everything you are selling!” I had to chill out...I had a powerful camera in my hand and didn’t want to freak her and Derek out (I was already getting the stink eye from him) as I danced around like a drunk monkey taking pictures in the dark, inky shadows of the first 5 feet beyond the stage.
Susan’s sound was exquisite. This is like your high school librarian showing up to talent night at Scooters Chug Town Bar and Grill and flooring the crowd of soccer moms and day-trading dads with a vocal range made from angel tears and puppy kisses. I say this because Susan Tedeschi is an unassuming presentation that you very well could mistake for your suburban neighbor or coworker at Chet's Five and Dime...until she gets that goddamn guitar in her hand and a microphone in front of her pretty face...then she morphs into a blues legend in the making. Her voice has crackle. It has velvet. It has depth and just sounds like perfection.
Tedeschi Trucks Band has ascended to become a Grammy award-winning blues band with equal recognition from Blues Music Awards as Band of the Year for 2023, 2017, 2014 and 2013. They have been called “The Best Touring Band” and earned high praise for their work on legendary music pieces such as “Layla Revisited (Live at LOCKN’)...and yes, Music Fan Magazine has that album on rotation here at the office and no, you can’t have it.
Formed a little over 10 years ago, Tedeschi Trucks Band has consistently delivered A+ shows to audiences across America, and with a backup set of singers that could easily get the golden buzzer from any of the AGT panel of four...they took turns supporting various songs in the setlist and each one of them were a bright, shining star. This one fellow in particular, Mike Mattison, well, he blew the roof off the place with his contribution to “Gin House”...holy mother of pearl where did this guy come from? It looks like he has been in the band since its inception, good thing, it adds depth to the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and surprised the crap out of the audience. It was pretty cool to see Susan and Derek turn around and watch him sing when Mike got rolling...there was whisp of gratitude transferring between them, and I am sure Mike was equally grateful to be there.
So, we are deep into the show now and Susan has been trading riffs with Derek for about an hour. It's tight. All notes hit as if the record was being played before us. A couple drunks in the middle section were really lubricated and wanted to sing along to other hits they played like “Anyhow” from the 2016 award-winning album “Let Me Get By” (co-written by that backup superstar I just called out...Mike Mattison). It passed, the drunks settled, and we were in Reno after all...all bets were off. Check out the pictures below to see how Derek and Susan were looking at each other, each other’s guitars and back toward the kick- ass drummer Tyler Greenwell, another longtime member of the TTB ensemble.
They were having fun. It didn’t seem like a big deal to them, play some songs, gather the love from the crowd, and keep playing. It was some of the best music this fan has ever heard and was only enhanced with great musicianship and backup singers, the entire package was almost too much. As Susan eased into “Midnight In Harlem,” I looked across the stage to Derek who, with closed eyes and a chin to the sky, continued to finger that fretboard with a glass flower vase on his Johnny Cash finger that really brought out the tone and vibrance of his guitar. I’m sure his guitar has a name. Something that is caressed that carefully doesn’t just get put away in a carry case, it has a name and a special place on the tour bus.
So Derek is stretching cat gut all over the place, the drummer is shuffling in and out while Susan drips with excellence in her voice, her guitar work and her interaction with the band...they are the best touring band on the road and this Reno performance cements their place in Music Fan Magazine’s all-time best ever shows.
I’m going to wrap this up because our reviews are supposed to be bite-sized and I’m tickling a full course meal here. I don’t know if Tedeschi Trucks Band will ever read this. I’m nervous they will. But I can say this with authority...if you have the chance to see Susan and Derek do their thing...and if Mike is on the elevated backstage right...and if the horn players are there too...hold your purse and take a notch out of your belt because I tell you what, brothers and sisters...the Tedeschi Trucks Band have arrived at a higher place and have a “Made Up Mind” (another award winning 2013 album) with their music and show presentation. What a wonderful show. Nobody in the auditorium will ever forget it. Music Fan Magazine would like to thank Grandstand Media for the opportunity to be there.
Thanks Susan and Derek...and the band... you guys kicked ass.
Music Fan Meters:
Smoke Meter: I really thought this would fog up like a cool January morning, but the Grand Sierra staff kept it low key like Smokey the Bear. But if we had a bourbon and beer meter it would be off the charts.
Fight Meter: Yea that wasn’t happening here. It wasn’t a Limp Biskit show...it was the King and Queen of modern blues rock music, and nobody was going to throw hands. Plus...Derek is like 8 ½ feet tall so you got to be careful.
Sing Along Meter: Pretty good but nobody could match Susan’s tone, so it sounded like a bunch of cats getting spayed and neutered. We tried. It didn’t play out well. The sound engineers just turned up Tedeschi Trucks’ monitors and the band never heard the catastrophic effort of the crowd sing along.