Black Crowes Cruise In Auto-Pilot Concert
By Kieran Grant
Toronto Sun
October 17, 1995

Perhaps the secret to success for the Black Crowes is finding the right jam space. Whatever the case, Massey Hall certainly did right by the notoriously jam-happy Atlanta band last night. The Black Crowes won all the advantages: Those are a warm atmosphere, decent acoustics and proximity to fans, who were permitted to form a large groove-pit at the foot of the stage - a rarity at Massey Hall. And luckily for the Crowes the enthusiastic, sold-out crowd was able to maintain the show's energy level, even when the band members couldn't do it themselves. Despite their flirtations with southern gothic imagery - their set included their own religious-looking coat of arms and their roadies dressed like Franciscan monks - the Crowes still sounded very much like the '90s answer to the Allman Brothers. They occasionally broke with their outmoded, southern-boogie and blues rock sound and moved into harder-edged songs like Let Me Share The Ride, Blackberry and Nebakanezer, from their latest album Three Snakes And One Charm. The six-piece band also toned down their normally quite expansive soloing to merely a few minutes for every song.   The dual, lead-guitar attack of Rich Robinson and Marc Ford was well-arranged, with Robinson handling the traditional, slide-guitar grind while Ford noodled away with slightly less musical charm. Bassist Johnny Colt and drummer Steve Gorman never put a foot in the wrong place.   Unfortunately, after a successful start, the Crowes slid into a slump. A section of almost Hootie-esque mellow tunes like Bring On, Bring On was most notable for its battles between good melodies and bad choruses, or vice versa. Rail-thin frontman Chris Robinson did get a chance to showcase his new crooning style. But the songs all similarly seemed to slow in the middle to allow for a spotlit solo by keyboardist Eddie Harsch. Just as this formula became tedious, the Crowes soared back on track with an impressive, spacey instrumental. Robinson thrilled the audience with some fine harmonica playing and resumed his raspy blues wail. The group's renewed rocking put a positive spin on an up-and-down night. Ten songs in, it was a wonder they didn't pull out the stops sooner. SUN RATING: 3 OUT OF 5