Peakin’ at the Beacon with the Allman Brothers Band

Minutes before the Allman Brothers Band concert began on Tuesday, a local disc jockey came on stage and said to the audience, “You’re not a real New Yorker until you’ve seen the Allman Brothers Band here at the Beacon Theatre!” Well, even though my birth certificate states I was born in the city many years ago, I guess I’m officially a New Yorker now. In the process, I checked off another activity from my bucket list.

The Allman Brothers Band would never be confused for New York rock 'n' rollers, but this band from the south owe some of their success to the city thanks to the popularity of their “Live at the Fillmore East” album 40 years ago. They’ve shown their gratitude, and good business acumen, by playing lots of shows over a few weeks around March at the Beacon Theatre for 20 of the past 22 years.

Tuesday’s concert had some of the spirit I imagined was present during the historic Fillmore East show. A video screen at the back of the stage displaying psychedelic images helped the audience get that feeling. In the balcony by me, a heavy and heavily-tattooed woman alternated sips from a Southern Comfort pint and cola bottle for some extra help. Also nearby, two middle-aged men lit something that let off a pungent odor, then laughed and observed they were closer to the ceiling than the stage – which they seemed, literally and figuratively.

Old and middle-aged, actually, were the dominant demographic at the concert. All seemed happy to be there, and many have probably seen the Allman Brothers Band several times over the years, if not during the current Beacon run. Some just looked like survivors which, come to think of it, is more than can be said of some of their 1970s contemporaries and original members of the Allman Brothers Band.

The music? It was fine. Gregg Allman’s vocals remain gritty and powerful. The guitar playing of Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes are superb and true to the band’s roots, and Butch Trucks is still masterful behind the drums. At times, the fans went wild. I don’t think, however, my sons would’ve been among them. In an immodest moment, my 24-year-old -- a music conservatory graduate -- would probably say he is as good as one or two of the Allman Brothers Band’s three percussionists. My 20-year-old would probably say Ben Folds, who played at the Beacon in December, puts on a better show. I admit I would agree with both of them.

A young woman (one of the few in the audience) from Colorado sitting next to my wife might disagree. Saying she had seen the Allman Brothers Band about 10 times, she was in New York for a seminar and seemed very happy to take advantage of a chance to be at the Beacon Theatre concert.

Perhaps I would’ve been knocked out if I was able to stay long enough to see Eric Clapton join the band on stage. As a concession to living in the suburbs, however, I had to bail in order to catch a New Jersey Transit train home or risk being stranded in the city. It being a weeknight, my wife and I needed to get some sleep and wake up early enough to give our employers an honest day’s work on Wednesday. I should’ve known that an Allman Brothers Band concert advertised to start at 8:00 would not be nearly over by 11:00.

As I left, I noticed several middle-aged women and some male contemporaries drinking at the bar inside the theatre entrance. I guess they also weren’t knocked out by the concert, but at least I was grateful to enjoy it while I was there.

Irony in FIFA's home town

Walking through Zurich's Old Town this Saturday, I came across a crowd of people, some kicking soccer balls, some drinking beers, some wearing blue and white jerseys, some with blue and white scarves. It looked interesting enough, so I wandered over and asked someone, "Sprechen sie Englisch?" "No," he replied. I found someone else who replied with some pause, "No -- but he does," and proceeded to learn what was going on from his friend.

It turned out that a group of Grasshopper Club Zurich soccer fans had assembled to rally for a new stadium a few hours before that evening's home match. Their club, the oldest in Zurich and most successful in Swiss soccer history, has been sharing the 25,000-capacity stadium -- about the size of one-year-old Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ -- of their local archrivals, FC Zurich, for the past four seasons. A new stadium was planned at the site of the old stadium when it was demolished, but it appears the project has stalled. Clearly, Grasshopper CZ fans are not happy about this and were voicing their displeasure before marching 30 minutes to see their favorite team play.

It's ironic that, four months after Zurich-based FIFA awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments to oil-rich Russia and Qatar, the two most popular soccer clubs in its own back yard appear in an uncomfortable stadium sharing situation. Russia has 13 stadiums to build or reconstruct in order to host the World Cup in seven years, and Qatar has to build 12 stadiums from scratch in order to host the World Cup four years later.

Quatar was controversially awarded the World Cup with a bid that promised, among other far-fetched ideas, to dismantle and reassemble its World Cup stadiums in other parts of the world needing them. Did the Qatar World Cup bid organizers have Zurich, not exactly an underdeveloped part of the world, in mind? Surely not. But the irony shouldn't be lost on FIFA's executives. That's assuming, of course, that FIFA's leadership even knows what's going on in their home town -- probably as far-fetched an idea as Qatar's to air condition all their new (outdoor) stadiums (if not the entire country) and then give them away!