The Black Crowes kicked off their 35-date “Happiness Bastards” tour Tuesday night, April 2nd, at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; 2024 marks 40 years since the inception of the band. Happiness Bastards is The Black Crowes’ tenth studio album and their first original music in 15 years and was recorded in Nashville and produced by GRAMMY Award-Winning producer Jay Joyce.
The band walked onto the stage to “It’s a Long Way to the Top If You Want to Rock n Roll” by AC/DC, who the Crowes supported on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1991. Singer Chris Robinson announced, “It’s been a little while since we’ve had some new songs to play for you all,” and later on said, “This marks two tours we’ve started in Nashville. Maybe this could become a thing.”
Leading into “Hard to Handle”, Robinson told, “A few years ago, we were lucky enough to have the idea to record this song, written by the greatest soul singer of all time from Macon, Georgia. His name was Otis Redding and we’ve been riding on this song for a long time. This mofo goes like this!”
Being Nashville, you never know who will join a band for a song or two and tonight it was Lainey Wilson (who sings the song “Wilted Rose” on Happiness Bastards). Robinson introduced her by saying, “If you’re going to play the Grand Ole Opry, you have to bring out a bona fide country superstar.” She stayed for a rousing rendition of “She Talks to Angels”.
The encore was a freight train version of The Velvet Underground’s “White Light, White Heat”, which is generally thought to be about methamphetamine but Lou Reed told an interviewer in 1969 that “I’ve been involved and interested in what they call ‘white light’ for a long time,” noting his recent investigation of a Japanese form of healing “That’s a way of giving off white light.”
The Black Crowes are a proper rock band, filled with testosterone, swagger, and LOUD. They played for an hour and forty minutes, which honestly was a bit of a disappointment, as a band with the catalog the Crowes do should really play for two hours minimum…
Set List
Bedside Manners
Rats and Clowns
Twice as Hard
My Morning Song
Cross Your Fingers
Wanting and Waiting
Hard to Handle
Kickin’ My Heart Around
Wilted Rose (with Lainey Wilson)
She Talks to Angels (with Lainey Wilson)
I Ain’t Hiding
Flesh Wound
Sting Me
Thorn in My Pride
Jealous Again
Remedy
Encore:
White Light/White Heat
