Brantley Gutierrez
Audio By Carbonatix
The first indicator of the appetite for a reunited Alabama Shakes came as soon as you stepped inside The Pavilion at the Toyota Music Factory Saturday night.
A line for the merch table reached astonishingly deep into the venue, a scrum of souls patiently waiting to buy shirts, hoodies, vinyl, tote bags, or posters. All night long, you could see fans milling around the building, clad in freshly purchased attire, posters jutting out of pockets, and records clamped under arms.
The second, and arguably more reliable indicator, came when the Alabama-formed rock group filed onto the stage as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle” filled the air, matching the faux greenery draped across just about every conceivable hard surface in sight.
The ecstatic roar which cascaded from the lawn to the front row was visceral in its impact — Alabama Shakes, dormant for the better part of the last decade, was back. (The group officially went on hiatus in 2018, as Brittany Howard embarked upon a solo career, and officially reconstituted earlier this year.)
Led by vocal force of nature Howard, the acclaimed band is down an original member (drummer Steve Johnson was asked to resign in 2021, owing to some legal troubles which have since been settled; Johnson is embittered about the situation), but with new timekeeper Noah Bond behind them, Howard, bassist Zac Cockrell and lead guitarist Heath Fogg picked up Saturday as if no time had passed.
(It should be noted Austin’s Greyhounds did commendable work priming the audience for the headliner — the duo, which was expanded live to include a horn trio and two drummers, conjured some hip-swiveling mojo during its time on stage.)
Alabama Shakes Continue Comeback With Promise of New Music
The 90-minute showcase, Alabama Shakes’ first Dallas appearance in a decade, leaned heavily — somewhat surprisingly — on its 2015 sophomore album, Sound & Color, which is denser and more psychedelic than the Southern-stewed, bluesy-gospel-rock pleasures of its 2012 debut, Boys & Girls.
Howard, who could bring real estate listings to life with her multi-octave, extraordinarily textured mezzo-soprano, was the evening’s amiable host: “I’m gonna encourage you tonight — if you know the words, sing along. If you feel like moving, please do. No shame in the house tonight.”
The near-capacity crowd needed no such urging, as it danced and sang and shouted and swayed to just about every tune the band — which expands by five on stage, incorporating a pair of keys players and a trio of backing vocalists — offered up, from the delicate “Joe” to the outer space freak-out of “Dunes” to the synapse-searing beauty of “Gemini.”
Where the band proceeds from here is less clear, so animated was the evening, the glow of nostalgia and rabid appreciation for songs written 13 years ago. There was the new single, “Another Life,” which felt — especially tucked between more lived-in material — like more of a placeholder than a way forward. “Can we try again?” Howard beseeched the heavens Saturday night. “Can we try in another life?”
Regaining momentum once it has dissipated is a tall task for any band, but if Saturday’s performance illustrated anything, it’s that Alabama Shakes will, at the very least, have the immense goodwill of its fans to give it a shot.
