The Black Crowes made a recent return visit to their Atlanta roots a special one during an concert stop in the area thanks to a couple of surprises, including an unexpected AC/DC cover.
It happened Saturday evening (May 23rd) in the closing moments of the group’s performance at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in the local suburb of Alpharetta. The night had already seen an appearance from Drivin’ n’ Cryin‘ frontman Kevn Kinney, a Georgia musical fixture, who came out to guest with the group on a version of his band’s “Acceleration.” That would have been plenty of excitement for the fans in attendance, but the Black Crowes had one more ace up their sleeves.
After closing out the main set with strong versions of a couple of proven catalogue tracks, “Twice as Hard” and “Remedy”, the band returned to the stage for an encore and Chris Robinson addressed the crowd. “I know you can probably guess this, but we always love coming home,” he shared. “Although I left Atlanta in 1990, so it doesn’t look like it when I drive around, but I know we’re home.” Thanking both Whiskey Myers and Southall, their current touring partners on the ongoing Southern Hospitality tour, he added, “I hope y’all like this one!”
A fiery version of “Riff Raff” from AC/DC’s 1978 Bon Scott-era album “Powerage” proved to be the perfect way to wrap up their evening in Georgia.
“The interesting thing about it, you know, [early Black Crowes bassist] Johnny [Colt] is rockin’ the Cliff [Williams] bass parts pretty much [back then],” Rich Robinson shared with UCR in 2024. “The drum parts were very groove-oriented. Very Phil Rudd, not a ton of fills. And a lot of the guitar parts were just doubled. It was minimalist in that approach.”
Each night on the band’s summer run supporting their newest album, “A Pound of Feathers”, has brought along new surprises. The trek kicked off May in Austin, Texas with guest appearances from John Doe of X, who joined the Crowes to perform “The New World” from the 1983 X release “More Fun in the New World“. Guitar legend Charlie Sexton came out that same night to jam “Feelin’ Alright?” from the Traffic catalogue (also made famous in a whole different way, by of course, Joe Cocker’s subsequent version).
“But also, obviously, there was also Rolling Stones, the Faces — everything and in between that you could imagine,” he continued. “But there was a lot more of that [AC/DC feel] and listening to [the first Black Crowes album] “Shake Your Money Maker” [in recent years] really brought that back. I was like, ‘Oh, I forgot.’ We were way into that rhythm section and the interplay between the guitars and what’s happening between Cliff and Phil Rudd. So it was eye-opening to look back.”
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