There are some bands that don’t just play a show so much as pull the room into their orbit, and The Black Crowes have always sat firmly in that category. From the moment the lights dropped at the Enmore Theatre, there was a sense that this wasn’t going to be a polite run-through of classics, but something looser, sweatier, and far more alive than that. With openers, The Southern River Band priming the crowd, from the first note it felt like everyone had shown up knowing exactly how this night was going to feel, and we were ready!
The Black Crowes are an American rock band known for their southern rock-influenced blend of blues rock, soul, and classic rock grit. Led by brothers Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson, they burst onto the scene with their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker in 1990 and built a reputation for loose, fiery live shows and deeply grooving, roots-driven songwriting. Chris’s vocals are distinct, with a beautiful high tone and use of non-lexical vocables to add soul and depth beyond the storytelling of the lyrics.
The Southern River Band opened with “Don’t Take It To Heart,” snapping the room to attention with a tight, driving set. Hailing from Perth, they felt like a natural fit as an opener – grounded in blues-rock but leaning into the rockier tunes on the night they sidestepped any risk of being reduced to the sum total of their influences. There were flashes of Mötley Crüe at their most electric and with his great hair and glitter pants adding just enough flash without distracting from the performance itself, it gave the cinematic rock energy of Chris “Izzy” Cole from Rock Star – the best movie ever made – but the focus stayed firmly on strong, immediate songs that didn’t need anything extra to land with the crowd.
Closing on “Stan Qualen,” they leaned into that final burst of energy and left the room warmed up for what was to come. It would be reductive to diminish their talent to comparisons, but the subtle familiarity did make it a MAFS-speed courtship to becoming a big fan – I suggest taking a listen.
The Black Crowes hit the stage and the room immediately took it up 10 gears. They opened with “Bedside Manners,” a fast, frenetic blast that carried their signature dynamic: huge bursts of energy breaking open into a slow, swampy groove in the middle, almost like a revival tent call-and-response moment that had the room teetering between chaos and gospel. It’s the kind of passage that makes you briefly consider renouncing the devil… before remembering rock ’n’ roll is the devil’s music, so thanks but no thanks. They followed with “Sting Me,” and the crowd was instantly right there with them, fully locked in.
Chris Robinson set the tone early with a cheeky acknowledgement of the new record, Pound of Feathers, joking they’d only do one song from it – a smart move for an Australian crowd that wants the hits but is happy to go along for the ride as long as you don’t overdo it. “Do the Parasite!” landed far better than you’d expect from a newer cut – genuinely catchy, tight, and already sounding like it belongs in the catalogue. From there, the set eased into its Amorica stretch, with “Cursed Diamond” unfolding slow and lush, all drifting guitar lines and soulful space, followed by “Ballad in Urgency,” which built beautifully in waves, the whole room swaying as one without the energy ever dropping.
The middle of the set deepened into that spacious groove, the kind where everything stretches just a little longer than expected but never loses its pull. The acoustics were a little off, but as someone who knows all the words to “Yellow Ledbetter,” you just lean in and go with it anyway – it’s not about perfect enunciation, it’s about tone, phrasing, that voice sitting right in the pocket of the room and carrying you through it. It worked exactly like that here, with Robinson’s soulful delivery doing more than enough to keep everything anchored. Then came the snap back into firepower: “Hard to Handle” exploded into the room with ease, all swagger and grit.
The final run was pure release: “She Talks to Angels,” which dropped everything into something tender and almost spiritual, the whole crowd locked in from start to finish, the song is the pinnacle of anticipation and the tale of the sad observation of addiction will always be timeless.
“Thorn in My Pride,” “Jealous Again,” and “Remedy” brought the set home in a surge of momentum that had the entire room moving – dancing, singing, completely unguarded. The single song encore, a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Silver Train,” was a nod to their roots, though part of me wished “Remedy” had closed it out. Still, it finished exactly how it needed to – loud, loose, and full of soul.
FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Photo credit: Jif Morrison/Enmore Theatre
Reviewer attended 08.04.26
