You got the feeling The Black Crowes aren’t used to playing a lot of Saturday gigs when the sun is still out.
Lead singer Chris Robinson noted as much during the band’s free Kickoff Weekend concert outside Lambeau Field on the eve of the Packers’ season opener against the Detroit Lions — a 5 p.m. affair that opened with “Twice as Hard.”
“All this rock ‘n’ roll in the daylight,” he said a couple of songs into the 90-minute set. “Rock ‘n’ roll is for nighttime, but we’re glad to be here to play for you this afternoon.”
But timing was no matter for the usual big crowd that turned out for what has become an annual Packers tradition ahead of the first home game of the season. Celebrating knows no boundaries that weekend, as evidenced by the smattering of concert tailgates and garage gatherings in the neighborhood a full 24 hours before kickoff.
While some were fans there specifically to see the Crowes play their first Green Bay show in 24 years, others were there just to be part of the party and maybe give that new No. 1 Micah Parsons jersey a test run before the game. The free event makes for an all-ages, all-over-the-board dynamic that calls for the headliners to not just be performers but unofficial party hosts, too.
Past acts have rolled out sing-along covers (Train), shared personal stories of being Packers fans (Steve Miller) or Lambeau lovers (Adam Duritz of Counting Crows) and started “Go Pack Go” chants, but the Crowes, led by Robinson and brother Rich Robinson on guitar, kept it about the bluesy, soulful rock that made them first-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees this year.
“That’s what rock ‘n’ roll sounds like, in case you’ve forgotten,” Chris Robinson said after the Crowes ripped through “Sister Luck” off the band’s 1990 debut album “Shake Your Money Maker.” “We don’t like to talk about how long ago that was,” he said of the record.
Still very much a whirlwind of trippy dance moves, stage prancing and mic twirling with a rich, robust voice to match, Robinson led the five-piece band and two female backup singers through a setlist that mixed “Wiser Time,” “Soul Singing” and “Stare It Cold” with mainstream hits “Hard to Handle” (dedicated to songwriter Otis Redding), “She Talks to Angels” and “Jealous Again.” “Wanting and Waiting” off the band’s 2024 album, “Happiness Bastards,” made it in, too.
He might not have had any football stories to share, but Robinson, who lives in Los Angeles, did find Wisconsin common ground with the crowd on something during his between-song banter: the fall-like temperatures just barely above 60 degrees.
“I’ll tell you this, you guys don’t (expletive) around with the football weather … This is very nice.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: The Black Crowes’ keep it all about the rock ‘n’ roll during their Packers’ Kickoff Weekend concert
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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