For the first time in over 25 years, The Doobie Brothers took to the stage at New York City's famous Beacon Theatre for a two night engagement in November of 2018, playing two of their classic albums back to back in their entirety for the first time ever, 1972's Toulouse Street and 1973's The Captain and Me. Rhino Records have put together the best recordings from the two night stand for one thrilling live concert album/video, titled of course Live From the Beacon Theatre. This set contains two CDs, one for each full album, and a DVD containing the entire performance, with the encore's tacked on the back end of CD2 and also on the DVD.
If you are a longtime fan, and these two albums happen to be two of your favorites from the Doobies, then you are in for a real treat here. So many tracks never before played live by the band, and some not in many, many years, all performed to perfection by the line-up of Tom Johnson (guitars, lead vocals), Patrick Simmons (guitars, lead vocals), John McFree (guitars, pedal steel, Dobro, harmonica, violin, cello, banjo, vocals), Bill Payne (keyboards, vocals), Marc Russo (sax), Ed Toth (drums), John Cowan (bass, vocals), Marc Quinones (percussion, vocals), Roger Rosenberg (sax), and Michael Leonhart (trumpet). Having the horn section up there with the band really fleshes out the sound, and along with their 3-guitar army makes The Doobie Brothers mightier than ever.
Watching the crowd on their feet, singing along and playing air guitar to almost every song is quite inspiring, the rockers like "Rockin' Down the Highway", "Jesus is Just Alright", "Disciple", "Long Traing Runnin' ", "China Grove", "Without You", and "Evil Woman" bringing down the house while their rootsy pop classics such as "Listen to the Music", "Natural Thing", "Toulouse Street", "The Captain and Me", "Ukiah", and the enchanting "Clear As the Driven Snow" show the bands penchant for catchy melodies and folk rock arrangements. Who can resist the bluesy charms of "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman", "Cotton Mouth", and "Don't Start me to Talkin' ", and of course, no Doobie's set list would be complete without an encore of "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)" and "Black Water". Throughout it all, the lead vocals of Johnston & Simmons are as strong as ever, and all three guitar players put on a show, Simmons especially fluid with his blazing rock licks. Good to see Quinones with the band now, after being a mainstay with The Allman Brothers Band for so many years. In fact, here's to hoping the Doobies take the success of these concerts and look to possibly do a series of yearly appearances at the Beacon, much like the Allmans did for the last 25 years.
Audio and video quality of this live album is superb, showcasing a veteran, no, legendary band, who are still one of the premiere acts to catch on the live circuit. Classic rock doesn't get much better than this folks!
Track Listing
Disc One: Toulouse Street
1. "Listen To The Music"
2. "Rockin' Down The Highway"
3. "Mamaloi"
4. "Toulouse Street"
5. "Cotton Mouth"
6. "Don't Start Me To Talkin'"
7. "Jesus Is Just Alright"
8. "White Sun"
9. "Disciple"
10. "Snake Man"
Disc Two:The Captain And Me
1. "Natural Thing"
2. Band Intros
3. "Long Train Runnin'"
4. "China Grove"
5. "Dark Eyed Cajun Woman"
6. "Clear As The Driven Snow"
7. "Without You"
8. "South City Midnight Lady"
9. "Evil Woman"
10. "Busted Down Around O'Connelly Corners"
11. "Ukiah"
12. "The Captain And Me"
Encore
13. "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)"
14. "Black Water"
15. "Listen To The Music" (Reprise)
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