Jukebox: Thompson, Tedeschi Trucks Band head to Egg

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Hochanadel

Guitars roar through here this week in a riff parade that could have been even bigger if The Egg’s “Three Guitar Heroes” and Tommy Malone shows hadn’t been canceled.

Malone reportedly injured his hand and, while The Egg hopes to reschedule, there’s no reset date yet. So all tickets will be refunded. The main singer and soloist of the subdudes, one of our greatest bands, Malone is also as restless as John Hiatt, who changes bands often. Malone reunited with former subdude Johnny Ray Allen in Tiny Town during the subdudes’ first hiatus. More recently in Boulevard Jr., he recorded solo albums and hit the road with multi-instrumentalist Ray Ganucheau on the tour that has now been postponed.

However, that leaves two exceptional shows at The Egg by three exceptional guitarists: Richard Thompson tonight, and the Tedeschi Trucks Band on Wednesday — plus major riffage in other venues.

Thompson and Malone last played here with bands — and fine ones — but stripped down for their current tours. Last year, “Thompson and his studio/touring band — bassist Taras Prodaniuk, drummer Michael Jerome, violinist Joel Zifkin, multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn — whipsawed the rockers and framed quieter tunes in pleasing but never bland textures,” as I reported in these pages.

Thompson once told me he’d love the luxury of having a band he could call in the middle of the night to rush right over and work on songs; but any power he might lose by playing solo he more than makes up for in flexibility and fun.

Richard Thompson plays solo at 8 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $34.50. Phone 473-1845 or visit www.theegg.org.

Talented group

Meanwhile, guitarists Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, who each formerly led fairly compact bands, have combined elements of both and added new players in the 11-piece juggernaut the Tedeschi Trucks Band (T2B).

The Derek Trucks Band played its last show before going on hiatus last year at The Egg, and a great band it was/is. (DTB singer Mike Mattison, now in T2B, said last year: “I’m sure there will be a Derek Trucks Band again, in one form or another.) Trucks recorded and toured with the DTB around Allman Brothers tours.

The Allmans ane now on hiatus (Gregg Allman released a bluesy solo album and formed a new touring band, and Warren Haynes did the same) and the Tedeschi Trucks Band has Allman Brothers and Trucks bassist Oteil Burbridge, now united with brother Kofi (a DTB member) in the new T2B.

A fine singer in the Bonnie Raitt style, Tedeschi sings most leads in T2B, but T2B also includes a great one: Mike Mattison from the DTB and his own group, Scrapomatic.

T2B has a new album, “Revelator,” as rich as the pedigree of its players: two blues guitarists, two funky, jazz-inspired drummers; three R&B horns; two soulful harmony singers; and two brothers playing deep-grooving bass and jazzy keyboards or flute. The songs are usually crisply arranged and generally well made. But when they cut loose and jam, it’s pretty hot stuff.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band plays on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The show is sold out.

A Palace Hippiefest

Hippiefest tonight at the Palace Theatre (19 Clinton Ave. at North Pearl St., Albany) features boomer faves guitarists Dave Mason, Mark Farner and Rick Derringer, plus Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals.

Before his mid-1970s-1980s hits, Mason played with Traffic, Jimi Hendrix, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, Eric Clapton and George Harrison. In fact, Mason was to be the second guitarist in Clapton’s Derek & the Dominoes but left as abruptly as he’d departed Traffic, years before — and joined and left Fleetwood Mac in 1995.

Farner led Grand Funk Railroad from the Rust Belt Midwest to arena-status everywhere via “We’re an American Band” and other loud anthems, and Derringer did his best work with Edgar Winter including “Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo.”

Cavaliere’s Rascals are a bigger band than the original 1960s hitmakers, and better than almost anything on the oldies circuit they often play.

Show time for Hippiefest is 7 p.m. Tickets are $59, $44, $39 and $29. Phone 800-745-3000 or 465-3334, or visit www.palacealbany.com.

A Crowe lands in Hudson

Also tonight, Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes (they’re on hiatus, like the subdudes and the Allman Brothers) leads a side project band into Club Helsinki (405 Columbia St., Hudson). Robinson led Hookah Brown and Circle Sound during previous Black Crowes’ breaks, but this is billed as Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes: Robinson, guitar; Jack Daley (of Lenny Kravitz’s band), bass; Steve Molitz (of Particle), keys; and Joe Magistro, drums.

Show time is 8 p.m. Dylan LeBlanc opens. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door.

Phone 828-4800 or visit www.helsinkihudson.com.

Crunching riffs

Friday brings a riff-rock two-fer to Northern Lights (1208 Route 146, Clifton Park) with Swedish neo-classical metal-master Yngwie Malmsteen headlining and Mike Campese opening. Since the mid-1980s, Malmsteen’s flow of high-speed, high-drama riffs hasn’t diminished at all. Albany-born (and Shaker High School grad) Campese could match Malmsteen riff for crunching riff.

A veteran of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, he now leads his own trio and presents frequent guitar workshops here.

Show time is 8 p.m., doors open at 7. Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 on Friday.

Phone 371-0012 or visit www.northernlightslive.com.

Blues-jazz blend

On Saturday, guitarist — what else? — David Jacobs-Strain plays at the Eighth Step at Proctors (432 State St., Schenectady). Still in his 20s, Jacobs-Strain plays a rejuvenated, cliché-free blend of blues and jazz, often with a slide and sometimes on a 12-string that achieves an orchestral sound. His latest album — he started recording at 15 — is “Live from the Left Coast.”

Show time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets re $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Phone 473-1704 or 346-6204, or visit www.eighthstep.org or www.proctors.org.

Reach Gazette columnist Michael Hochanadel at [email protected]