Blimp Time-Hop: Black Crowes Get Us High As The Moon At CCCC

Blimpville has made so many great live Black Crowes memories over the past three decades, from the first show at T-Birds in April 1990 to the last two at the State Theatre in October 2013, for WBLM’s 40th Anniversary.

Here's Hard To Handle seamlessly played into a badass cover of Deep Purple's Hush from the second night.

Perhaps the most memorable night with the Black Crowes in Portland happened 28 years ago this weekend. It was the one and only time they played the Civic Center as headliners on the High as the Moon tour. This visit to Maine supported their now classic album, the Southern Harmony and Musical Companion. It was a sold-out show on Saturday April 10, 1993.

I distinctly remember quite a party backstage with the band after the show. The next stop on the tour was in Montreal on the following day. Everybody at the party was urged to partake in a major smoke session to help finish up all the herb before the Black Crowes and crew headed for the Canadian border.

I can tell you from personal experience that it was a good idea to not have any weed on you when traveling to Quebec. A few years prior this night in '93, I was busted at the border on a BLM Concert Caravan to see David Bowie. The agent found a crumb of hashish in my cigarette pack and I got sent back, spending the night at a motel in Jackman. So, yeah.

It was a very good idea for the Black Crowes to have a massive 'safety meeting' before they left Portland. Man, good thing I lived just up the street on the West End back then. It was short and entertaining walk home.

Now, let's get back to concert that happened before the backstage party.

This killer line-up of the Black Crowes featured Marc Ford on guitar, the late-great Eddie Harsch on keyboards, Johnny Colt on bass, Steve Gorman on drums, along with the brothers Robinson, Chris on vocals and Rich on guitar.

This was a band at the height of their powers on the live stage. The Crowes rocked us into oblivion with a 14 song set. As a giant pot leaf banner hung behind them, they opened with a ferocious No Speak No Slave and ended the night with the big new song of moment, Remedy. We were levitating the whole time!

setlist.fm

Let's get it rockin' with their opening number, No Speak No Slave. This is from a show in Houston two months before there sole Civic Center performance as the main attraction.