Allmans Revisit Their Roots, Family Style

For its performance at the Greek Theatre on Saturday, the Allman Brothers Band flanked the stage with psychedelic fluorescent murals and rear-projected undulating amoebas and various ‘60s icons.

It was a curious move because the Allmans band, which came of age in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, doesn’t seem stuck in a particular era the way, say, the Grateful Dead did for years.

For the Allmans, blues, R&B; and country music were never just styles to try on for size; they are the foundation of the band’s aesthetic.

Which meant that whenever the band would break into a song Saturday that the sold-out crowd had heard countless times before--the hard-luck narrative “Midnight Rider,” the country-rock feel of “Ramblin’ Man” or the gospel-tinged “Revival (Love Is Everywhere)”--the tune material didn’t evoke some early ‘70s idyll, but reached back into earlier eras and musical traditions.

Not content with being mere archivists, the band, which has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, still writes new material that allows them to flex some instrumental muscle. “J.J.’s Alley” was a limber jazz-funk exercise that sounded like a cross-hybrid of Bill Frisell and Santana, with guitarists Dickey Betts and Derek Trucks (the nephew of drummer Butch Trucks) tightly twining together cascading guitar lines.

Of course, the show featured the requisite Allman jams, such as “Whipping Post” and “Southbound,” with Gregg Allman’s voice as grizzled as ever. But the real highlights involved Allman offspring--singer Kevin Allman, guitarist Duane Betts and bassist Berry Oakley Jr.--who joined in at various points during the evening and provided a warmly familial vibe.