Review by Don Wilcock

Five seconds in, I knew we were in for a Chivas Regal night. Never mind that Dr. John had sounded like he was at death’s door during our interview on Halloween, the day before his Palace Theatre show…

Never mind that he drew only 1,000 to a theater that holds three times that number…

Never mind that Jimmy Carter is the last remaining of the original Blind Boys of Alabama and 73 years into his performing career…

Never mind that the Blind Boys are down from five to four…

Never mind that none of the artists on Dr. John’s much lauded new album Locked Down are in his touring band, the Lower 911…

Never mind that The Blind Boys were playing for a strictly black southern audience in the ’40s and Dr. John was blending hippie chic and New Orleans kitsch in the ’70s…

Until about 20 years ago the idea of having these two acts play together would have been considered as outlandish as inviting the Sex Pistols to a cotillion.

Never mind that in the gospel, blues and funk traditions this collaboration borrows from, it sometimes takes even the best acts several minutes to build up a head of steam like a freight train leaving Grand Central Station pulling 100 cars…

No, no, this reminded me of an Al Kooper show I saw at The Egg years ago when Al had a crack band of Berklee College of Music professors backing him, and they led with “Green Onions,” exploding off the stage like a cannon.

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