After spending their off day watching the Knicks lose a tough one from floor seats at Madison Square Garden (with buddy Warren Haynes), Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks headed back uptown and got back down to business with the fourth of six nights of their ongoing Tedeschi Trucks Band spring residency at the Beacon Theatre.

While this was just the midpoint of the 2025 Beacon run, it also marked the final night of an extended run of tour dates featuring blues legend Buddy Guy as support. In honor of the end of their joint tour, the Tedeschi Trucks Band co-bandleaders started their headlining set by grabbing acoustic guitars, taking a seat with the 88-year-old Guy, and playing a little blues. With John Lee Hooker’s “I’m in the Mood” serving as the loose foundation for the delicate and emotive blues jam, but the mix of Buddy’s cooler-than-cool presence, Derek’s tastefully reserved slide riffs, and Susan’s smokey voice felt more important than whatever they were singing. After one weeping slide from Trucks late in the song, Guy stopped whipped his head toward the sound, smiled wide, and broke from the groove: “Damn, man…” he said, trailing off. “Shit, I’ll play this all night.”

Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Buddy Guy – “I’m in the Mood” (John Lee Hooker) – 5/22/25

[Video: sgibson818]

Once Guy made his exit, keyboardist Gabe Dixon got started on George Harrison‘s “Wah-Wah” as the rest of the 12-piece band assumed their places onstage. Now at full force, the band seemed to channel the joyous sound of Sly & The Family Stone on their own tune, “Laugh About It”, as the pyramid-like stack of video screens above them drifted between kaleidoscopic colors and stylized video of the band to stunning effect.

The setlist leaned toward a mellow, blues-y sound following the show-starting collaboration with Buddy Guy. “Don’t Drift Away” stayed airy and mellow, while “Outside Woman Blues” heated to a boil with a Hendrix-reminiscent electric blues guitar breakdown led by Trucks and Tedeschi. The sorrowful emotion radiated off songs like “It’s So Heavy”, the gritty Mike Mattison-sung “Down in the Flood”, and a teary “Last Night in the Rain”.

Related: Tedeschi Trucks Band Fuses Its Roots With Its “Future Soul” On Night 3 At The Beacon [Videos]

After a Derek and the Dominos two-for-one (“Bell Bottom Blues”, “Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?”) and another Mattison-led tune (Taj Mahal’s “Everybody’s Got to Change Sometime”), an ethereal free-jazz drums/saxophone interlude led into perhaps the biggest highlight of the night, an expansive “Shame” that heard Derek Trucks straddling the line between jazz influence and feedback-accented, avant-garde experimentation.

 

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With time running down, the band maintained momentum through the Allman Brothers Band’s “Little Martha”, their signature “Midnight in Harlem”, a towering “I Want More”, and a set-closing “Beck’s Bolero”. An “I Pity the Fool” (Bobby “Blue” Bland) encore brought the show to a close on the same ground where it started, sending fans filing out to Broadway happily singing the blues.

Tedeschi Trucks Band returns to the Beacon Theatre on Friday and Saturday to round out the six-show stand. Can’t make it out? Tune in to livestreams of both nights with your nugs All Access subscription here. Not a subscriber? Get started here. [Editor’s note: Live For Live Music is a nugs affiliate. Ordering your subscription via the links on this page helps support our coverage of the live music world. Thanks for reading!].

Find tickets to upcoming Tedeschi Trucks Band here. View the full Thursday night setlist and listen to an audience audio recording of the show below.

Setlist: Tedeschi Trucks Band | Beacon Theatre | New York, NY | 5/22/25
Set: I’m in the Mood (John Lee Hooker) [1], Wah-Wah (George Harrison), Outside Woman Blues (Blind Joe Reynolds), It’s So Heavy, Down in the Flood (Derek Trucks Band), Last Night in the Rain, Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and the Dominos), Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?, Everybody’s Got to Change Sometime (Taj Mahal), Saxophone/Drum Jam, Shame, Little Martha (The Allman Brothers Band), Midnight in Harlem, I Want More, Beck’s Bolero (Jeff Beck) [2]
Encore: I Pity the Fool (Bobby “Blue” Bland)
Notes: [1] with Buddy Guy on acoustic guitar, vocals; Derek and Susan both on acoustic guitar; [2] with “Freeway Jam” tease.

Tedeschi Trucks Band w/s/g Buddy Guy – Beacon Theatre – New York, NY – 5/22/25

[Taped by: Eric Lugassy]