Band played debut LP in its entirety, plus cover of Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)”
The Black Crowes ripped through their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, during their first live show in six years at New York’s Bowery Ballroom Monday night. The show took place the same day the band announced a massive 2020 reunion tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Shake Your Money Maker.
The show, like the LP, opened with “Twice as Hard,” and a fan-shot video captured the back-half of the tune, with frontman Chris Robinson and his brother, guitarist Rich Robinson, belting the song’s hook in unison, “Twice as hard/As it was the first time/ I said goodbye.”
Right after, the band swung through a rollicking rendition of “Jealous Again,” with Robinson getting a hearty assist on vocals from the crowd during the bridge. And later, Rich Robinson broke out the acoustic guitar for a tender, yet rousing version of their ballad, “She Talks to Angels.”
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Chris Robinson explained that the band was taking a back-to-basics approach to the reunion. “I think this is pure,” he said. “We went off into a lot of things. There’s no jamming. There’s no extraneous stuff. This is the purest Black Crowes that people first [heard] … I hope we reconnect with some people who lost their way with us because of all of our other shit we were doing.”
In that spirit, after running through all of Shake Your Money Maker, the Black Crowes closed their first show back with a fittingly rambunctious cover of the Rolling Stones’ “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It).”
The Black Crowes are set to play another small gig at the Troubadour in Los Angeles November 14th before launching their full tour next summer. The run kicks off June 17th in Austin and wraps September 19th in Los Angeles.