Tedeschi Trucks Band did more than just put on a two-night masterpiece Friday-Saturday run at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO over the weekend. It’s not an exaggeration to say that any band with Derek Trucks in it is going to blow people’s minds, he is one of the top guitarists on the planet. His wife, Susan Tedeschi, is not that far behind on the six-string and has the voice of an angel in repose to boot. No, the Tedeschi Trucks Band showed that it was, taken altogether as a single unit, a gathering of talent and competency rarely even dreamed of all on one stage.

Kicking things off by letting the band get comfortable on “Woman To Woman” before she made her entrance, Susan Tedeschi showed how her years of stagecraft have shaped her awareness that a band this large needs space. With a trio of horns and a trio of backup vocalists, not to mention a pair of drummers, bassists, organists, and, of course, her husband on guitar, Tedeschi knows a happy band makes for a happy show.

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Woman To Woman” (Joe Cocker) [Pro-Shot] – 7/29/23

By the time they were mid-second song of the set, “Playing With My Emotions”, Derek was on fire and the band was casually building rave-ups and handling the changing tempos like the well-oiled machine it is. Between songs, Tedeschi offered a quick thanks to opener Vincent Neil Emerson, checked on the crowd, and launched into a duet with keyboardist Gabe Dixon on a stellar, chugging “Ain’t That Something”. The horns made themselves heard in earnest, with Elizabeth Lea’s trombone propelling the jam before Tedeschi finally called her own number in the swirling jam, dropping a massive solo, letting her guitar wail.

Slowing things down, the band breezed through a slow building soulful and bluesy “Life Is Crazy” led by backing vocalist Mike Mattison that had the first moments of Derek demonstrating his mastery of the slide that morphed into a rolling, rollicking review. Tedeschi took lead vocal duties on Koko Taylor’s “Voodoo Woman”, a track that beautifully illustrated her somewhat gruff but always sultry delivery and gave her a chance to lay down some thick blues lines of her own. Dixon managed to slip a wild organ solo into the mix for good measure, adding to the fullness of the tune and earning the band its first huge cheer.

As if the crowd needed any reminder that this was a joyous occasion, Wet Willie’s “Keep On Smiling” got them all on the same page. Slowing things down for long enough to catch their collective breath, Susan and backing vocalist Mark Rivers, who, when not doing the “soul choir” bit for the chorus, fashioned the happy tune into a duet made out of pure joy. Tedeschi ended the song with a full-on Sunday church-styled call and response with the three-piece backing vocalists that would make any sunny Southern gospel review green with envy. Then Derek Trucks piped up and casually laid down one of those majestic solos that make you wonder what dimension he truly hails from.

One of the better-balanced tunes of the evening, “Last Night In The Rain”, saw everyone in a full collective groove though Trucks was clearly starting to warm up. In the very next tune, “Pasaquan”, Trucks dropped a finger-picked, single-note bit of guitar that seemed to blow the doors of any restraints that he had held to that point. His fanning during the solo was done with such reckless abandon even he looked a little scared.

The response from the audience was such that even the stoic-faced Trucks had a grin creasing his kisser. Ending his solo with an intertwining of his guitar with the organ groove Dixon was laying down, Trucks then showed a smidge of stage leadership himself, giving the nod to drummers Tyler Greenwell and Isaac Eady. The pair of percussionists were clearly waiting for their time to shine and deftly demonstrated what two rock-solid drummers on the exact same mental wave can do when fully unleashed.

Tedeschi took the lull as the cheer died down to introduce the full band and the next song, the title track from her 1998 sophomore LP Just Won’t Burn—due for a 25th-anniversary reissue September 22nd. A bluesy number that had some fun vocal twists from Alicia Chakour and a smokin’ solo from sax maven Kebbi Williams, this gem from Susan’s back catalog showed how well her earlier work holds up even a quarter-century later.

A miles-high take on Dr. John’s “Walk On Guilded Splinters” gave way to the title track of TTB’s recent EP cycle of releases I Am The Moon. The wild, “All In” guitar jam that closed that track’s energy carried over into a ripping cover of Faces‘ classic “Stay With Me” that had the Red Rocks crowd in full boogie-down mode before, sadly, set-closing “Made Up My Mind” came and went.

The band did pop back out quickly to keep the energy high and dropped a spot-on take of Gregg Allman‘s “Come and Go Blues” before one last big jam-out song, “Show Me”, gave everyone on the stage a chance to drop a few choice lines and rave-ups galore on the crowd.

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Stay With Me” (Faces), “Made Up My Mind” – 7/28/23

[Video: Steam Powered Aerodyne]

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Come & Go Blues” (Gregg Allman), “Show Me” (Joe Tex) – 7/28/23

[Video: Steam Powered Aerodyne]

Setlist: Tedeschi Trucks Band | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 7/28/23

Set: Woman to Woman (Joe Cocker), Playing With My Emotions, Ain’t That Something, Life Is Crazy, Voodoo Woman (Koko Taylor), Keep On Smilin’ (Wet Willie) Take Me as I Am, Last Night in the Rain, Pasaquan, Just Won’t Burn, Part of Me, I Walk on Guilded Splinters (Dr. John), I Am the Moon, Stay With Me (Faces), Made Up Mind

Encore: Come & Go Blues (Gregg Allman), Show Me (Joe Tex)

Saturday night saw Tedeschi take the stage with the troops, and the band picked up where it left off the night before, crackling with blues power and ready to electrify the crowd with it. The opening “Anyhow” gave the band a chance to metaphorically kick the tires and make sure the equipment was ready to handle the musical surge it was preparing to pump through before the second track’s opening strains, “Statesboro Blues”, focused the crowd like a laser in the darkness.

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Anyhow”, “Statesboro Blues” (Blind Willie McTell) [Pro-Shot] – 7/29/23

After a unifying blues jam session with her husband that must save the couple tons of money on any marriage counseling regular folks might need there was already a true need to calm things down a smidge, which came in the form of a heartfelt, melodic “Hear My Dear” that saw Dixon do some impressive harmonizing. Next, Mattison came off the backing podium to lead the band in a vaguely ragtime jazzy “Fall In”.

“Got My Mojo Working” gave Trucks a chance to pick up a bottleneck slide and showed he wasn’t all bluster. Gliding through transcendent runs, the solo began in a whisper that was legitimately haunting before it got away from him and instantly grew back to world-threatening size and scope.

“Do I Look Worried “ was one of the more full band-focused tracks and gave everyone a chance to shine. Knowing the rest of her band was fed and happy, Tedeschi took the next track, “Yes We Will” as her own, with vocals and guitar matching the urgency of the rolling accelerated beats laid down by Greenwell and Eady.

After a spirited “Circles ‘Round The Sun”, the first notes of The Allman Brothers Band standard “Dreams” got the night’s first truly massive cheer for good reason. Tedeschi and Trucks did the famous dual blues guitar attack with all the respect and effort you’d expect from the Allman Bros. relative, and the cheer after the song was easily double the strength of the intro.

Trumpeter Ephraim Owens and backing vocalist Mattison got “I Wish I Knew” going, but it was Taylor and Chakour’s spirited second half that got the tune up into the ripping place where it ended. Tedeschi and Derek traded looks of love and licks of blues fury on the follow-up “Outside Woman Blues”. A fun run deep into the Tedeschi catalog, “It Hurts So Bad”, showed this band could make anything it touched into sonic gold.

The weekend’s most truly transcendental moment arrived when Tedeschi delivered a transfixing “Midnight in Harlem”, arguably her signature tune. It was more than a song, it was a statement and the sentiment was understood by any in earshot. Simply put: there’s a reason Tedeschi’s name comes first. The mix of soul, skill, and sheer heart she shows during this song easily washes away any doubts about the veracity of her claim.

With the crowd primed and the band on fire, the energy carried forward and straight into a rip-roaring take on The Rolling Stones‘ “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” with Mattison crushing the Mick Jagger vocal duties.

The hour was getting late and the set closing one-two of “I Want More” and a nearly out-of-control bonanza version of the Jeff Beck instrumental “Beck’s Bolero” helped put a massive stamp of success on not just the night but the weekend’s high place in the year’s special shows at this most fabled venue.

Tedeschi came out for the second encore of the weekend with the bare bones accompaniment of Dixon and his grand piano for a heartbreaking take on Mike Reid’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” before the gospel-esque “Space Captain” gave everyone one last chance to one-up themselves because no one on the stage was trying to outmatch anyone but themselves.

That’s the best part about the Tedeschi Trucks Band. Every player is secure in their position, ready to perfectly exploit any quarter second of focus that falls their way and secure in the knowledge that they are all working in service of the material and the whole.

Yes, when you have someone on your side like Derek Trucks you could easily turn every big moment to him, let him go off in a firestorm of bluesy fretboard destruction, and do quite well as a band. But thanks to Susan Tedeschi’s storied history of rocking on her own, the insane chops of the group they’ve assembled, and the material they have mastered there’s no direction they can’t hit your heart and soul from at any given moment.

That kind of power is a great responsibility for a group to bear but somehow I trust these 12 musicians implicitly because they’ve never pretended to be anything but what they are: a blues band that wants to take you, and everyone within earshot, to a better place.

Check out some images from Saturday’s Tedeschi Trucks Band show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre courtesy of photographer Kit Tincher.

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Circles ‘Round The Sun”, “Dreams” (The Allman Brothers Band) – 7/29/23

[Video: Chuck Michel]

Tedeschi Trucks Band – “Beck’s Bolero” (Jeff Beck) – 7/29/23

[Video: RUJCFD]

Setlist: Tedeschi Trucks Band | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO | 7/29/23

Set: Anyhow, Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell), Hear My Dear, Fall In, Got My Mo-Jo Working (But It Just Won’t Work on You) (Ann Cole with the Suburbans), Do I Look Worried, Yes We Will, Circles ‘Round the Sun, Dreams (The Allman Brothers Band), I Wish I Knew (Billy Taylor), Outside Woman Blues (Blind Joe Reynolds), It Hurt So Bad, Midnight in Harlem, Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) (The Rolling Stones), I Want More, Beck’s Bolero (Jeff Beck)

Encore: I Can’t Make You Love Me (Mike Reid), Space Captain (Matthew Moore)