Preview: The Black Crowes at the Eccles

The Black Crowes will perform at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on Nov. 19, 2024. Photo Courtesy Live at the Eccles

Chris and Rich Robinson have plenty of reasons to celebrate. They’ve stopped all their fighting and got the band back together. They put out a new album this year—their 10th!—something they’d not done in 15 years. And when their plans to open for Aerosmith got quashed when Steven Tyler hurt his vocal cords and the band abruptly hung it up, The Black Crowes simply extended their own tour and added more dates, moving forward as the Happiness Bastards they are.

There are lessons in resilience and growth mixed in with all that, and fans reap the rewards of the Brothers Robinson getting along and moving on.

If recent setlists indicate what’s in store, Salt Lake City’s in for a real treat next Tuesday, November 19, when their tour lands at Eccles Theatre. The Crowes seem all too eager to please their adoring fans, blending old and new favorites into recent shows, one eye looking back as the other looks forward. In an era where pop appears poised to dominate all other forms of music combined, Chris and Rich and the rest of the band will have a long chance to remind us that, when done right, rock ’n’ roll isn’t going anywhere.

I’ve never seen the full band perform, but I’ve always wanted to. I have seen the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, and it was incredible for many reasons, but more of a resounding echo of earlier greatness. A lot of years ago, when the Crowes’ debut came out — Shake Your Money Maker (1990) — it quickly became one of the most well-loved cassettes in my collection. My best friend and I drove around in his old brown 1978 Pontiac Parisienne and turned his stereo volume up as loud as it’d go, screaming our way through songs like “Hard to Handle,” “Twice as Hard” and “Jealous Again.” It was the soundtrack of unabashed joy.

Years ago, the Crowes felt poised to be as big and important to music history as The Rolling Stones. Or perhaps those high hopes were entirely my own, I don’t know. It never quite worked out that way, and that’s entirely OK. The band found its voice, made its mark, and survived the hiccups that nearly ended them for good.

That’s certainly something worth crowing about.