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Drive By Truckers - 16 November 2016, Tampa, FL (Tampa Theatre)


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The Tampa Theatre is a beautiful old theatre in a classic ornate style, built in 1926. I got to see Wilco there all the way back in 2002, and it was one of the more memorable shows (and tours) I've seen in my concert history. It's always a treat to see a show there, or even just a movie. It's a real treasure in this city known, unfortunately, as a "tertiary market."

 

Any of you who have already seen DBT know that these guys rock, and I actually don't know their repertoire anywhere near as well as most of you probably do. I've got a bunch of their stuff, but haven't committed the lyrics to memory, and have paid more attention to the Cooley songs than the Patterson songs.

 

That being said, I hate to complain about a show, but I felt the same way after this one as I did after the one other time I saw them - two years ago, in the same venue. They need to fire their sound man and get someone much better. I know it can be done, because I saw Wilco in the same place, in the second row, and the sound was excellent...and that was 14 years ago. I've now seen DBT in two different sections of the same venue - eighth or ninth row center last time, front row side last night - and it's just a mess trying to hear what the fuck they are singing.

 

I got up and walked around a couple times, and even went back near the board last night, to see if I could find a better spot. It just wasn't much better at all. It's really too bad, because these guys have an incredible repertoire. and they deserve to be heard. Every damn word.

 

Still, it was fun, and toward the end, Patterson mumbled something about "inviting ya'll to join us up here and rock out," or some such thing (yes, even spoken words were difficult to decipher), and everyone close to the stage jumped out of their seats and turned the area in front of the stage into a general admission show. I got a decent pic of Cooley. Not on the level of our pal tinnitusphotography, but not too shabby for an old buck.

 

I was hoping for Filthy and Fried, Shit Shots Count, or Primer Coat, but I went 0 for 3.

 

Set list:

 

Guns of Umpqua

Ramon Casiano

What It Means

Lookout Mountain

Surrender Under Protest

Women without Whiskey

Sink Hole

When the Pin Hits the Shell

Gravity's Gone

Baggage

Ever South

The Righteous Path

Gimme Some Truth

Once They Banned Imagine

Uncle Frank

Kinky Hypocrite

Sun Don't Shine

Made Up English Oceans

Heathens

Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn

Zip City

The Southern Thing

Where the Devil Don't Stay

Let There Be Rock

Shut Up and Get on the Plane

Hell No I Ain’t Happy

Rockin' in the Free World

Hell No I Ain't Happy (reprise)

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Thanks for the write up. Definitely looking forward to their return to Boston this winter. 

 

Interesting about the sound. Last time I saw them, at Columbia Theater in Providence, we were down pretty close just behind the open pit area and my buddy and I noticed the sound was pretty bad. I chalked it up to being too close, but perhaps not. I don't remember that being an issue at previous shows. Hey, not every band can have a Stan at the controls! 

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 Hey, not every band can have a Stan at the controls! 

Indeed. But they should, they should. :lol

I used to hear (and still do hear) a lot of complaints about the Amalie Arena in Tampa, the hockey rink formerly known as the Ice Palace. It's been nicknamed the Echo Dome. Saw Santana there, sound sucked. Saw Simon and Garfunkel, and it was pretty darn good. Then saw The Dead in 2003 or 2004, and Dylan opened. Sound was beyond awful. Then The Dead came out and opened with Help on the Way, and I've never heard better sound in that shed. Just goes to show you, you need to learn to work within the room, and lots of folks simply don't do it well. It's a shame.

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I saw them the night before in Ft. Lauderdale (culture room) and the sound was not just good but great....I even thought on the ride home, one of the best sounding shows at CR for me in a long time.

 

We got Rockin in Free World (encore, between Hell No and then came back to that)  was really smoking....and we got Marry Me.

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Their soundman for the last 10+ years just left this past Summer.

New guy at the controls for maybe 4 months now.

Been to a lot of DBT shows, sound is generally good (to my ears)...

I believe Stan has an advantage in that Wilco doesn't play that loud. DBT on the other hand, play pretty loud...

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