I saw the Allman Brothers Band at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse in Iowa City on Feb. 19, 1972, a unique era for the group. Duane Allman was gone but bassist Berry Oakley was still alive.
This one-year window of touring saw the band trying to cope simultaneously with huge loss and exploding popularity. The great album achievement of At Fillmore East was behind them, and Eat a Peach had been released just the week before this show.
With their next album, Brothers and Sisters, the Allman Brothers Band would reach new and unexpectedly large audiences through their one huge radio hit, the late co-founder Dickey Betts’ “Ramblin’ Man.” But the concert on this winter night attracted the band’s original, album-oriented fan base.
Betts carried the guitar load all night, and the group was very good. Still, an air of sadness hung over the Iowa City Fieldhouse that evening.
Opening the concert was Big Brother and the Holding Company. This San Francisco band had once included Janis Joplin, but was now disintegrating and in its final days.
Big Brother without Janis Joplin, and the Allmans without Duane Allman: It was becoming increasingly clear to this still-young audience that time would not forever be our friend.
This is an excerpt from Tom Wilmeth’s ‘Sound Bites: A Lifetime of Listening,’ available from Muleshoe Press at Amazon. He’s a freelance writer who lives in Grafton, Wis., former home of the Paramount Records label.
- ‘Cold War Country,’ by Joseph M. Thompson: Books - December 2, 2024
- Acknowledging an Influence? Or Grounds for a Lawsuit? - August 9, 2024
- Dickey Betts’ Star Rose as the Allman Brothers Band Grieved - April 19, 2024
