The Black Crowes made a recent return visit to their Atlanta roots a special one during an concert stop in the area thanks to a couple of surprises, including an unexpected AC/DC cover.
It happened Saturday evening (May 23) in the closing moments of the group’s performance at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in the local suburb of Alpharetta. The night had already seen an appearance from Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ frontman Kevn Kinney, a Georgia musical fixture, who came out to guest with the group on a version of his band’s “Acceleration.” That would have been plenty of excitement for the fans in attendance, but the Crowes had one more ace up their sleeves.
After closing out the main set with strong versions of a couple of proven catalog warhorses, “Twice as Hard” and “Remedy”, the band returned to the stage for an encore and Chris Robinson addressed the crowd. “I know you can probably guess this, but we always love coming home,” he shared. “Although I left Atlanta in 1990, so it doesn’t look like it when I drive around, but I know we’re home.” Thanking both Whiskey Myers and Southall, their current touring partners on the ongoing Southern Hospitality tour, he added, “I hope y’all like this one!”
A fiery version of “Riff Raff” from AC/DC’s 1978 Bon Scott-era album Powerage proved to be the perfect way to wrap up their evening in Georgia. You can see video of both special moments, thanks to YouTube user Chuck Jones. If it seemed like a surprising pick, just know that there’s some history there.
Watch the Black Crowes Perform AC/DC’s ‘Riff Raff’ in Georgia
The Black Crowes Have Always Loved AC/DC
“The interesting thing about it, you know, [early Black Crowes bassist] Johnny [Colt] is rockin’ the Cliff [Williams] bass parts pretty much [back then],” Rich Robinson shared with UCR in 2024. “The drum parts were very groove-oriented. Very Phil Rudd, not a ton of fills. And a lot of the guitar parts were just doubled. It was minimalist in that approach.”
“But also, obviously, there was Rolling Stones, the Faces — everything and in between that you could imagine,” he continued. “But there was a lot more of that [AC/DC feel] and listening to [the first Black Crowes album] Shake Your Money Maker [in recent years] really brought that back. I was like, ‘Oh, I forgot.’ We were way into that rhythm section and the interplay between the guitars and what’s happening between Cliff and Phil Rudd. So it was eye-opening to look back.”
The ‘Southern Hospitality’ Tour Has Been Full of Surprises So Far
Each night on the band’s summer run supporting their newest album, A Pound of Feathers, has brought new surprises. The trek kicked off May 17 in Austin, Texas with guest appearances from John Doe of X, who joined the Crowes to perform “The New World” from the 1983 X release More Fun in the New World. Guitar legend Charlie Sexton came out that same night to jam “Feelin’ Alright?” from the Traffic catalog (also made famous in a whole different way, of course, by Joe Cocker’s subsequent version).
READ MORE: The Black Crowes Launch ‘Southern Hospitality’ Tour
Former Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed, who joined the group in the late ’90s, showed up in Nashville, sitting in on “Remedy.” There have been a number of tour debuts beyond that, including readings of “High Head Blues” and “She Gave Good Sunflower” from 1994’s Amorica and plenty of additional cover songs, like “Bitch” by the Rolling Stones.
A Full Circle Moment in Georgia
As Kevn Kinney told UCR during a conversation on Tuesday afternoon (May 26), it meant a lot to him personally, getting to share the stage with the Robinson brothers again, because of the close relationship they’d developed early on. “We all lived kind of in the same little street,” he explained. “There’s a little apartment complex called the North High Ridge Apartments in Atlanta.”
“Chris and Rich, and David Macias, who runs [the record label] Thirty Tigers now, they all lived together and David was their manager,” Kinney remembers. “He worked with my girlfriend at the Record Bar, so we all kind of knew each other. They’d started a band called Mr. Crowe’s Garden, which I really liked. They were a lot like the Long Ryders or the Byrds — they were very into [those two bands], R.E.M. and things like that.”
Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ recently released a new album, Crushing Flowers, produced by guitarist Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit), but the Crowes suggested “Acceleration,” a more obscure cut from the band’s earlier days. “When we toured with them, they requested it, because it was one of the songs they used to see us play in the early, early days [at the long-shuttered] 688 [Club in Atlanta],” he says. “It’s the first song I ever wrote, so I think that was kind of cool.”
The Southern Hospitality tour will continue through August 20 in California. The band will be back on stage a couple days later supporting Guns N’ Roses for a short run of dates that will conclude Sept. 2.
Watch the Black Crowes Perform Drivin’ n’ Cryin’s ‘Acceleration’ With Kevn Kinney
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
