The South rises again at SPAC

by John Antognioni, Bennington Banner, September 3, 1980

The Charlie Daniels Band came up from Nashville, Tenn., to give a rousing two-hour show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center last Saturday night.

There was little doubt of the band’s home, as many of the vocal 17,000 fans in atténdance came adorned in cowboy hats and armed with Confederate flags.

Although Daniels was in the limelight on stage for most of the show with his guitar and fiddle playing, when the scene shifted to other band members, they handled themselves more than adequately. In particular, Taz DiGregorio, who displayed fine keyboards throughout the night, and Tommy Crain, the band’s lead guitarist, stood out.

In addition to his tour band, Daniels added three female backup singers and a horn section, which didn’t quite seem to fit in with the band’s country-style sound.

During the set, Daniels mixed in tunes from his new album “Full Moon,” including the two singles “In America” and the more recent “The Legend of Wooley Swamp,” and a string of his fans’ older favorites “Long-Haired Country Boy,” “Trudy,” “Uneasy Rider” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

A few surprise songs also were included in the show: a strange, countrified version of Chuck Berry’s classic “Johnny B. Goode” and Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See,” the latter a tribute to Tucker’s late guitarist Tommy Caldwell.

The CDB was brought back out by their fans to encore with their southern-rock anthem “The South’s Gonna Do It Again” and the popular instrumental “Orange Blossom Special.”

Opening the show was Levon Helm, the former drummer of The Band, and the Cate Brothers Band. Helm played a few of the band’s hits, but didn’t confine the Cate Brothers to just that, as he let them loose to play a few of their original rhythm and blues numbers in an enjoyable, highly credible opening performance.

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