Words: Slade Rand
Photos: Jon Angel
Warren Haynes and conductor Rich Daniels led fifty-something musicians onstage through a lifetime’s worth of southern rock and soul to close out the thick of summer at Red Rocks.
A couple weeks back, Warren returned to Morrison with old friends by his side and a full symphony behind him for the Dreams & Songs Symphonic Experience. September winds brought a reminder that seasons change while Warren masterfully handled anthems of psychedelic blues, elevated by world-class musicians.
“We’re covering music from the last 35 years of my life,” Warren said before the full symphony dropped into ‘Broken Promised Land’ from his 2009 release ‘Tales of Ordinary Madness.’
Warren and the orchestra performed songs he wrote with Phil Lesh, Oteil Burbridge and his current bandmates alongside classic tunes he’s played with the Allman Brothers and members of the Grateful Dead for decades. Warren has intertwined himself with the Colorado Symphony through somewhat annual gatherings at Red Rocks, and he has an ear for new opportunities to blow songs wide open with their full orchestral arrangements.
This year for the Dreams & Songs Symphonic Experience, Warren brought a full band of dirt-kickers with him.
The Warren Haynes Band is John Medeski on keys, Kevin Scott on bass, Terence Higgins on the drum kit and saxophonist Greg Osby. The quintet and vocalists Saundra Williams and Mayteana Morales played two sets of music with the symphony and a third set of blistering funk without. They’ve been on the road for the ‘Now is The Time’ tour this summer with interloping symphonic dates.
“I’m gonna warn you up front, it’s a long night,” Warren said after an opening pairing of ‘Dreams & Songs’ and the Allman Brothers’ ‘Dreams’ just after sunset.
Intricate arrangements of Allman Brothers tunes leapt from the stage a couple of times in the first set. The symphony dropped into an upbeat take on ‘Revival’ after an artful introduction from Warren’s Les Paul and Medeski’s piano. The crowd swelled and Warren smiled as he brought the southern hymn to Red Rocks.
“People, can you feel it? Love is everywhere,” sang everyone.
Warren said that was the first time he’d played ‘Revival’ with the symphony. He’s worked with Daniels on symphony tours for years, and the duo have fun tapping the profound well of music before them. Daniels is based in Chicago with The City Lights Orchestra, and he tours projects like the Dreams & Songs Experience and Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration with regional symphonies cross country.
The conductor spent a few extended moments during the opening frame at Red Rocks with his back to the symphony, beaming from his perch over a soloing Warren.
During a similar Colorado Symphony tribute to the music of Jerry Garcia a couple years back, Daniels joined the band for a third set sans orchestra to play some raucous free-flowing saxophone over JGB staples. The band that year centered around rhythm section Dave Schools and Duane Trucks of Widespread Panic with Tom Hamilton and JGB’s Melvin Seals.
“You cannot see, taste or touch music. But you can hear it and you can most certainly feel it,” Daniels says on his website.
Warren dipped into the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter songbook just a couple choice times with the symphony. He called up songs that move differently with a full orchestral arrangement – like ‘Shakedown Street,” which soars on top of added string and brass disco soundscapes.
And, of course, the orchestra brought its unique arrangement of ‘Terrapin Station’ back to Red Rocks. The quick, 80’s-style romp through the song highlights its distinct composition and lets the symphony shine during the more intense moments.
With a smile, as the symphony and vocalists crested as one, Warren stepped back and let fly a familiar lick. ‘Slipknot!’ exploded from the core Warren Haynes Band up front. Warren danced up and down through the melody, and led a return to the ‘Terrapin’ peak.
During the second set, Warren treated Gov’t Mule fans to an extended ‘Thorazine Shuffle’ with the symphony that let Higgins loose on the drum kit. The band found space to truly jam here as the symphony carried a main melody throughout.
“Well, what are they gonna do next with the symphony?” Warren joked as the jazz-blues excursion wound down. He sounded excited for this next one.
‘Instrumental Illness,’ a tune Warren wrote with Oteil Burbridge for the Allman Brothers’ final studio effort, descended on Red Rocks. The core band and symphony could each fully step into their roles on this arrangement. Smokin’ jazz riffs crackled out of the quintet while the symphony kept its pace with choreographed fills.
A third set of WHB grease arrived next as the symphony parted ways.
The band came out swinging after a short set break, with the hard-driving funk of ‘Tear Me Down’. Kevin Scott and Terence Higgins lit up the rhythm section on the Gov’t Mule track, and Warren unleashed his fiery Les Paul.
Warren blended dirty funk and cherished tunes all night long at Red Rocks, honoring the songwriters who came before him and the symphonic power he shared the stage with. See a full setlist provided by Warren, and check out our gallery below.
WARREN HAYNES BAND
“DREAMS & SONGS SYMPHONIC EXPERIENCE”
9/10/2024
Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Morrison, CO
Set 1 (w/ The Colorado Symphony)
Dreams & Songs #
Dreams
Banks Of The Deep End #
Spots Of Time
Revival #
Broken Promised Land #
Drum Intro > Terrapin Station> Slipknot! > Terrapin Station #
Set 2 (w/ The Colorado Symphony)
Raven Black Night > Silent Scream (Excerpt) > Raven Black Night
Just Another Rider
Thorazine Shuffle
Instrumental Illness
Forevermore
Band Interlude >
Drum Intro > Shakedown Street #
Whipping Post
Dreams And Songs Reprise #
Set 3 (WHB Only)
Tear Me Down #
River’s Gonna Rise #
Man In Motion #
You Ain’t Above Me
Lies, Lies,Lies
Power And The Glory #
Invisible
Encore:
This Life As We Know It # *
Soulshine #
# with Saundra Williams & Mayteana Morales – background vocals
* First Time Played
After Midnight 
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