Rickey Medlocke Band, Black Oak Arkansas at the Arcada Theatre (3/2/2024)

As I’ve said many times before, the post-COVID era of touring has seen headbangers treated to shows they never thought imaginable beforehand, this past Saturday’s happenings at the Arcada Theatre being no exception. For the past 28 years, Rickey Medlocke has served as the guitarist for southern rock juggernaut Lynyrd Skynyrd: A band whom he initially joined as their drummer in ’71, only to move over to guitars in ’72 before departing later that year. Considering Skynyrd has been a driving force of the summer concert circuit for the better part of Medlocke’s second tenure with the band, it has left little time for the veteran guitarist to focus on the music he made with his own outfit, Blackfoot. That all changed this past weekend, as we were there for the Rickey Medlocke Band’s second ever show. Here’s how it all went down…

Black Oak Arkansas

The evening began with a scorching set from the equally legendary Black Oak Arkansas. Once known as one of the hardest touring acts on the planet, the storied outfit seems to make it up north to the Chicagoland area once every few years, making their very presence a rare treat in an age where bands play markets 2 to 3 times a year. The current incarnation of the band took to the stage at exactly 8 PM, fronted as always by the notorious Jim Dandy himself. Now before we get onto the set itself, let’s take a moment to appreciate Mr. Dandy, shall we?

Jim Dandy is, for all purposes, a mythological figure in the grand pantheon of rock n’ roll. He is a character, alongside the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Lemmy, King Diamond, and so forth, who is forever enshrouded by tales that straddle the line between fact and fiction. And it is because of his persona that even the most unbelievable of these tales SEEM true. He is the quintessential survivor and archetypal frontman, the living, breathing embodiment of the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll ethos. And when you take a moment to consider how many bands and artists a fraction of his age now come off as cheap caricatures of their past glory, it makes you appreciate Mr. Dandy even more.

At 75, Dandy has traded in his all white pants, vest, and heels for a much more distinguished, yet nevertheless badass elder statesmen look: A long black leather trench coat with matching black heels, animal fur draped over each shoulder, and a full beard. For much of BOA’s 60 minute set, he was isolated to a stool, the culprit being an upcoming double hip replacement surgery. “I should’ve never done those damn splits!”, lamented Dandy to the adoring audience of fans. In the same breath, an immobilized Dandy proved to be more charismatic and impactful of a frontman than 99% of all other frontmen that have ever graced a stage.

The setlist leaned heavily on BOA’s latest album, The Devil’s Jukebox (2023): A covers album consisting of songs that influenced Dandy throughout his storied life. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t skeptical of the approach. After all, even the best bands tend to butcher their way through cover albums. Yet Dandy and the gang drove these songs on home, sometimes even elevating the originals by playing them in the raw southern hard rock BOA vein. As for the personal aspect of these songs, before going into a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Bold as Love”, Dandy looked back wistfully, reminiscing over how it was this song that was playing over a pair of headphones during his first acid trip (the first of over 3,000).

The homestretch of BOA’s set saw them run through some of their biggest ’70s hits: “Jim Dandy”, “Hot and Nasty”, and “When Electricity Came to Arkansas”. By the end of the washboard driven instrumental epic, the crowd was up on their feet, clapping and cheering with the same intensity as any number of arena sized audiences BOA laid waste to 50+ years earlier. This is a band who will never resort to phoning it in, and let’s thank the lord for such!

Setlist

• “Sympathy for the Devil” (The Rolling Stones cover)
• “Space Lord” (Monster Magnet cover)
• “All Along the Watchtower” (Bob Dylan cover)
• “Heartbreaker” (Grand Funk Railroad cover)
• “Rock & Roll Woman” (Buffalo Springfield cover)
• “The Devil’s Daughter”
• “Somebody to Love” (Jefferson Airplane cover)
• “Bold as Love” (The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
• “Jim Dandy” (Lincoln Chase cover)
• “Hot and Nasty”
• “When Electricity Came to Arkansas”
• “Plugged In and Wired”

Rickey Medlocke Band

In any other environment, a Black Oak Arkansas set would be the main event. This, however, was not just “any other environment”. This was a show, to quote Medlocke himself, almost 3 decades in the making. “Not bad considering I haven’t stood behind a mic in nearly 30 years!”, laughed Medlocke to the crowd three songs into his hour and 45 minute musical extravaganza. Not bad? Talk about a guy who’s humble! Just for the record, Rickey Medlocke and his band were more than “not bad”…they were incredible.

As the opening electric guitar riff to “Sittin’ on Top of the World” kicked in, the opening cut off Blackfoot’s criminally unsung After the Reign (1994), I felt chills run up my spine. Was I really about to witness these songs live: Songs that had not been performed live by the man who made them famous for the better part of 30 years? I was, and nearly 48 hours, I still can’t believe it. As far as I’m concerned, this was a life altering set on part with Mercyful Fate’s reunion and Max and Igor Cavalera’s run through the classic Sepultura catalog in the “holy shit” department.

The vast majority of Medlocke’s set drew heavily from Blackfoot’s two biggest albums, Strikes (1979) and Tomcattin’ (1980). If you’re reading this, you don’t need me to tell you what masterpieces these albums are: Full stop barn burners that so beautifully straddle the line between downhome southern rock and unrelenting traditional metal. From “Fox Chase” and “Road Fever”, to “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” and “Wishing Well”, I was in absolute southern metal bliss, headbanging, air guitaring, and singing along to every jam.

True to the band’s moniker, however, this show wasn’t JUST about Blackfoot, but rather Medlocke himself and his storied career. They played their debut single, “Never Run Out of Road”, this epic southern ballad fitting right alongside the Blackfoot oeuvre. There was also the obligatory nod to Skynyrd and Medlocke’s fallen brothers: Gary Rossington, Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Bob Burns, Leon Wilkeson, Billy Powell, Steve Gaines, and so forth. In homage, Medlocke played a very emotional rendition of “Simple Man”, as well as the crushing album cut, “The Needle and the Spoon”. As the one-two punch of “Highway Song” and “Train Train” brought the set to a close, I stood in awe of what I just witnessed. This is, for all intents and purposes, the show to beat for 2024.

Unprofessional as it might be to address an artist directly in a review of this nature, screw it, it’s my webzine and I’ll do what I want. Mr. Medlocke, if you are reading this, on behalf of myself and the countless Blackfoot fans around the globe, THANK YOU for putting this show together for us. I can only hope, amidst Skynyrd’s off time (scarce as that may be), that you continue to create new music and perform live with this vehicle. We’ll be more than glad to rock on and on (and on and on) alongside you throughout this new creative chapter of your ongoing musical story. Indeed, the “Fire of the Dragon” still burns.

Setlist

• “Sittin’ on Top of the World” (Lonnie Chatmon cover)
• “Every Man Should Know (Queenie)” (Blackfoot song)
• “Road Fever” (Blackfoot song)
• “Railroad Man” (Blackfoot song)
• “The Stealer” (Free cover)
• “Guitar Slingers Song & Dance” (Blackfoot song)
• “Fox Chase” (Blackfoot song)
• “Never Run Out of Road”
• “Spendin’ Cabbage” (Blackfoot song)
• “Left Turn on a Red Light” (Blackfoot song)
• “Southern Native” (Blackfoot song)
• “30 Days in the Hole” (Humble Pie cover)
• “Simple Man” (Lynyrd Skynyrd song)
• “The Needle and the Spoon” (Lynyrd Skynyrd song)
• “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme” (Blackfoot song)
• “Wishing Well” (Free cover)
• “Highway Song” (Blackfoot song)
• “Train Train” (Blackfoot song)

Encore

• “Born Under a Bad Sign” (Albert King cover)
• “Whiskey Train” (Procol Harum cover)