Play It All Night Long

Some bands just know how to rock, no matter how many lineups they trot out on stage over the years. The Drive-By Truckers are one of those bands, and their recent show at the Paradise (yeah, this review is 10 days late) was proof positive that the live rock experience still exists in its purest form.

In its 17-year career, DBT has had several different incarnations, but the common denominators through all of it are frontmen Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. Most recently, bassist Shonna Tucker and guitarist John Neff left the band; Matt Patton of the Dexateens took over on bass and DBT is now touring as a five-piece; Brad Morgan on drums and Jay Gonzalez on guitars and keyboards are the other holdovers. The Whigs were the opening act and I'm sorry to say I missed all but two songs of their set, but they were excellent (and much hairier than the last time I saw them three or four years ago) as usual.


The fact that the usually prolific DBT had no new album to flog and no other songwriters in the band meant that Hood and Cooley essentially traded off songs throughout the two-hour-plus set. "Southern rock" is the descriptor I tend to use with DBT, but they pretty much cover a wide swath of styles: rock, country, a little soul, hard rock. The band liberally dug out songs from throughout its career, including the terrific "The Night G.G. Allin Came to Town" from 1999's Pizza Deliverance, as well as a raucous cover of Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long" (from the odds and sods collection The Fine Print) and "Hell No I Ain't Happy" from 2003's Decoration Day (along with several others). But the band closed out the encore with four barnburners from the beloved 2001 double album Southern Rock Opera, including "Zip City," "Let There Be Rock," "Shut Up and Get on the Plane" and "Angels and Fuselage," which ends with the band members walking offstage one at a time until just drummer Morgan is left playing.

On guitar, Hood and Cooley were in fine form, each taking solos on the other's songs, but Gonzalez also proved his mettle by providing ripping solos on several songs in addition to pedal steel and keyboards. New bassist Patton resembled a slightly older Opie Taylor as he bobbed his head grinning throughout the show. Hood and Cooley definitely seemed to be having fun, perhaps because some much of the interpersonal drama is gone from the band now. Whatever the case, DBT held nothing back, rocking the packed club and leaving us wanting more even as we stood there exhausted.