Tedeschi Trucks Band kicked off their 2018 spring tour at the Barbara B. Mann Arts Hall in Fort Myers, Florida to a sold-out crowd on Thursday, April 12th. Delivering a wide-range of originals from their expansive discography, as well as choice blues covers, the twelve-piece ensemble used night one to dust off the cobwebs and get ready for a huge tour ahead.
Susan Tedeschi walked out on stage and welcomed her family and friends who had come to see the show before proceeding to open with “Laugh About It” and “Just As Strange”—two songs from the band’s most recent album, Let Me Get By, before slowing it down for a beautiful, soulful rendition of “Bird On The Wire”.
Next up was a smoking version of the blues standard “The Sky Is Crying”, a song written in 1959 by Elmore James but gained notoriety through Stevie Ray Vaughn‘s version. Guitarist and bandleader Derek Trucks ripped through the song in his usual fashion and got the crowd going. From there, the band played another song off the Let Me Get By album with funky, NOLA-tinged “Don’t Know What It Means”. Following that was their hit “Part of Me” from 2013’s Made Up Mind. The band closed out the first set with “Shame” and “More and More” before taking a 30-minute set break.
The excited crowd was welcomed back with a stellar version of “Anyhow” that showcased some outstanding lead guitar work by Trucks and some soulful singing and horn work from the brass section and vocalists. They followed that with a cover of Taj Mahal‘s “Leavin Trunk” which was highlighted by excellent vocals. At the end of that song, the band broke it down with a very long spacey lead into their big hit “Midnight in Harlem” from the Revelator LP. The band slowed things down a bit after that with “Angel From Montgomery” which turned into a beautiful version of the Grateful Dead‘s “Sugaree” as the crowd joined in to sing the chorus. The second set ended with “Get What You Deserve”, “How Blue Can You Get”, and “I Want More”. After a short break, Tedeschi Trucks Band came out for a superb encore of the Allman Brothers Band‘s ” Statesboro Blues” followed by “Made Up Mind”.
The band will return to the stage this evening With Matt Schofield in Tallahassee, Florida at the Capital City Amphitheater and Saturday in Savannah, Georgia at the Savannah Music Festival before heading to the Midwest and Western part of the tour. This summer, the band will play with The Marcus King Band and The Drive-By Truckers for The Wheels Of Soul tour.
Check out the gallery below, courtesy of photographer Chris Burgess.