Black Crowes/Tedeschi Trucks Band
Bank of America Pavilion
Boston, MA
July 30

Are they always this good? That’s the question that came to mind after seeing stellar back-to-back sets by the Tedeschi Trucks Band and Black Crowes at Boston’s open-air Bank of America Pavilion. The two bands are touring together this summer, and seem to be bringing out the best in each other.

After an opening set by the London Souls (worth arriving early for), TTB hit the stage and launched into “Made Up Mind,” the title track of their forthcoming album. There is nothing like being blown away by a song you’ve never heard before, and on this night the band was firing on all cylinders right from the get-go. It bodes well for the upcoming release that some of the most forceful songs of the evening were drawn from the new disc: “It’s So Heavy,” “Misunderstood” and a thundering set-closing version of “The Storm.” It is hard to come away from watching Derek Trucks play live and not believe he is simply one of the best guitarists in the business right now. And as a band, TTB is playing as tightly together as they ever have.

Susan Tedeschi, as much a key to the band’s success as her husband Trucks, shone on a gloriously extended take on “Midnight in Harlem,” as well as two covers TTB has been pairing together on this tour, “Angel From Montgomery” and “Sugaree.”

The bigger surprise of the night, for me anyway, was the performance of the Black Crowes, if only because I’ve seen them several times before and thought I knew what to expect. But the band’s hiatus for much of 2011 and 2012 appears to have rejuvenated lead singer Chris Robinson and the rest of the Crowes, because they put on a much more energetic show than I’ve ever seen from them. Robinson, especially, seemed to be having a blast, dancing and dodging with reborn exuberance through an opening trio of “Soul Singing,” “(Only) Halfway to Everywhere” and “Peace Anyway.”

The band has put “She Talks to Angels” back in the set list for this tour, and Rich Robinson’s acoustic guitar makes it sound fresh. Other highlights from the 15-song set included a trippy “She Gave Good Sunflower,” “Wiser Time” and a closing suite of “Remedy,” Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle” and “Hush” (the Billy Joe Royal cover made famous by Deep Purple) that was as propulsive as live rock and roll can get.

The Crowes were joined by members of Tedeschi Trucks and London Souls guitarist Tash Neal for an encore of Ray Charles’ “Let’s Go Get Stoned” and a rousing version of “Turn On Your Lovelight” that would have done Pigpen proud.