The Warren Haynes Band filled the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on Saturday night for two sets of high-energy blues, soul and jazz. Haynes is touring in support of his 2024 Million Voices Whisper, his first solo album in almost a decade.
The venerable blues and rock guitar player has an enviable, perhaps unparalleled résumé. Few artists get the call to tap in as the lead guitar player for a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band. Haynes has been honored to play with several inductees, including the Allman Brothers and several post-Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead ensembles (notably Phil & Friends and The Other Ones). His own band, Gov't Mule, has likewise earned accolades as a headline‑worthy jam band.
For the Fillmore show, Haynes’ band included longtime drummer Terence Higgins (from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band) and Gov’t Mule’s current bassist Kevin Scott. Both were in the studio with Haynes to record Million Voices Whisper. The touring band also includes Matt Slocum on keys (John Medeski played on the record) and Greg Osby on sax. Osby has also played in several Grateful Dead offshoots, and his jazz résumé includes gigs with legends such as Jack DeJohnette, Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock. Slocum has collaborated with Allman Brothers veterans Oteil Burbridge and Derek Trucks, among others.
For two sets—well over three hours of music!—Haynes and friends shredded versions of tracks from Million Voices Whisper, several Allman Brothers classics, some Government Mule favorites, and a few classic rock covers.
The new songs meshed well. “Real, Real Love,” coming in the middle of the first set, is a mellow Southern rock ballad that gave Haynes a chance to showcase his Carolina whiskey voice. Derek Trucks provided the slide lead on the record, but Haynes gets to make it all his own when he plays it live. As the energy built during the instrumental jam, his solo revealed some of its Allman Brothers DNA, with melodic hints of “Blue Sky.”
“Lies, Lies, Lies,” another cut from Million Voices Whisper, took off like a freight train in the second set, careening around the bend at 100 miles per hour. Scott’s deep funk bass lines kept the engine fired up from the get‑go on this hard‑rocking boogie. It’s no secret to anyone who sees this ensemble that Scott is The Warren Haynes Band’s secret weapon.
For the Allman Brothers faithful, the first set ended with Gregg Allman’s “Dreams,” followed by “Instrumental Illness.” The cell phones came out to record video of “Dreams,” which did not disappoint. Osby threw down a sax solo with a deadly jazz‑fusion vibe to kick off the jam in the middle. Haynes’ guitar solo also hit Coltrane‑like heights, then dropped into a restful valley before sliding back up again to a lofty peak on the wings of Duane Allman’s angelic template.
“Instrumental Illness,” cowritten by Haynes and Oteil Burbridge for 2003’s Hittin' the Note, affirmed that the artistry and creativity of the latter‑day Allman Brothers was every bit as astonishing as the “classic” lineup. The jazz‑fusion bass lines, syncopated guitar riffs and multi‑faceted landscapes of improvisational genius belong in the pantheon of Allman monsters like “In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed” and “Mountain Jam.” Yeah, I’m putting it way up there. (This song was first on my “Hope they play it!” list for the show.)
The second set opened with a delicious Hammond solo by Slocum before any of the other band members played a note. After Slocum teased “One Way Out,” Haynes & Co. jumped in to play Haynes’s inspirational anthem “Soulshine,” originally sung by Gregg Allman when the Allman Brothers recorded their studio version. It’s worth noting here that Haynes has no trouble admirably fitting into the very big, bluesy vocal shoes of his former bandmate Gregg. At the Madison Square Garden “Brothers” show last month, Haynes stood in for his departed brother all night long, and not one song suffered in translation. We miss Gregg horribly. But Warren’s way cool too.
As the night progressed, several covers made guest appearances onstage. Tower of Power’s epic dance tune “What Is Hip” gave the crowd its first bass solo of the night and then a wicked Hammond organ turn by Slocum before the band segued into Van Morrison’s “I’ve Been Working.” Later, Haynes paid obligatory tribute to Jerry Garcia (a common courtesy at The Fillmore) by playing the jam‑band idol’s famous Stratocaster, Alligator, on a snippet of “Dark Star” and a full rendition of “Black Peter.”
(Is there any guitar on the planet that has been played by so many hands—particularly gifted hands—as Alligator?)
I remember seeing Haynes with a fledgling Government Mule on the undercard at a H.O.R.D.E. show in the early ’90s. They were playing in a small tent away from the main stage. I was already impressed by Haynes’ Allman Brothers work, and I became an instant fan of that “side project.” Mule quickly grew to a festival‑marquee band on the strength of Haynes’s songwriting, shredding and stage presence.
Now in his 66th year, Haynes has become something of an elder statesman in blues rock, especially on the jam side of the genre. This is not coincidental. (Older ≠ more accolades; ya gotta earn it!) His slide work and soloing stand out in a crowded field. Haynes’ rapid‑fire‑pointillist‑Boolean‑note‑switching, a frequent calling card of his solo crescendos, is part of a signature style that has been wowing axe‑heads since his early days in David Allan Coe’s band.
He’s surrounded himself with equally stunning bandmates. Higgins was a beast on the skins, and he and Scott in particular are also really fun to watch. By the time Haynes and his world‑class band closed the second set with “Invisible” (from his debut solo album Tales of Ordinary Madness), it was hard to miss seeing all these cats as alpha dogs in a world of jam bands named for various forms of sea life and fowl. The extra round of solos in the encore—a version of Steely Dan’s “Pretzel Logic”—locked it in.
