Live at Bonnaroo

They Say...

Review by William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

With his ongoing membership in the Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Dead, guitarist/singer Warren Haynes doesn't really have time for a solo career. He did put out a solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness, in 1993, but his group gigs provide him plenty of opportunities to write and play, and except for a live EP compilation, Lone, in 2003, he hasn't otherwise bothered to issue solo discs. Yet while performing at the 2003 Bonnaroo Festival, he followed a Saturday night set with the Allman Brothers Band with a Sunday afternoon solo set, accompanying himself on acoustic and electric guitar, and here it is on CD. Haynes uses his guitar chording to support his soulful voice on what sounds like a personal, thrown-together set list. There are expected numbers from the Gov't Mule songbook ("In My Life," "Fallen Down," "Tastes Like Wine") as well as a tune from Tales of Ordinary Madness ("I'll Be the One") and songs Haynes wrote for his group activities (the Jerry Garcia tribute "Patchwork Quilt," first recorded by Phil Lesh & Friends, "Soulshine," introduced by the Allman Brothers Band and here performed as a duet with South African singer Vusi Mahlasela). And then there are some surprising choices. Haynes opens with his version of Radiohead's "Lucky" from OK Computer, which some of his listeners seem to recognize, and later tries U2's "One." He introduces "Glory Road," a song written by Austin Sisk, a performer he says influenced him in his youth, and premieres a song called "Forevermore." And, to the crowd's delight, he throws in Garcia's "To Lay Me Down" and the Grateful Dead's "Stella Blue." The performance should be taken in context, considered as a sort of Sunday brunch performance for the jam band audience who went to Bonnaroo. For them, it was perfect, and for listeners already familiar with one or more of Haynes' group endeavors, it may be quite a kick to hear these songs stripped down to what amount to folk arrangements. But the album is not really the place to start in appreciating the performer. The uninitiated are liable to find it musically repetitious and static, instead of the change-of-pace it is intended to be.