The Knoxville Civic Coliseum was packed to the rafters last night for The Allman Brothers Band with opening act Widespread Panic. Twenty-something tie-dyed hippies danced and twirled as Widespread Panic laid down a two-hour plus set of psychedelic power jams, and they stayed but made room down front for the laid-back tie-dyed AARP hippies jamming to the Allman Brothers Band on their 40th Anniversary Tour.

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The Allman Bros. opened with Statesboro Blues and ripped through a two-hour set of classics, ending with Whipping Post as the encore. It's a shame they couldn't play all night because they were just getting warmed up when the venue was shut down promptly at 11PM. Jack Pearson joined in for an extended version of Dreams and finished out the set which included Mountain Jam, and Bruce Katz sat in on piano for most of the set and on B3 when Gregg played acoustic guitar on Melissa.

The Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes master guitar duo is a force of nature -- as sweet and pretty as a bird singing one minute then coming at you like a freight train the next. We first saw Derek Trucks in a Florida blues bar ("The Junkyard") when he was about 14. He was pretty amazing then, but his lyrical, soulful playing is off the charts now. You can hear a lot of different influences in his playing (and some tributes to past masters and mentors), but he has transcended to a different plane and claimed his own territory with a fresh and unique style.

Anyway, we had a great time. It was a good thing the show was moved indoors, because it was raining when we left. If you want to see this incredible show, which is different every night, it's playing at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium tonight, Oct. 14th. (The show was originally scheduled for Riverfront Park but was also moved indoors.) Tickets are available here.

(Special thanks to AC and AC Entertainment for hooking us up with photo credentials, and to Paige Travis for her hospitality at the venue.)

Click here for a photo album from last night's Allman Bros. performance...

(Note: all photos Copyright (C) R. Neal, published with permission, restrictions apply.)