At Fillmore East

#291 Heard Before? Yup, a long time ago. Notes: - blues is really not my genre anymore, and i typically avoid these types of guitar-solo-heavy recordings. - however, this is just as compelling as the hype would have it, and the solos go beyond the typical weedly-weedlie stunting of most rock bands. - some of the most exciting harmonica playing i know of. - the mix is fantastic! - they obviously have such deep knowledge and respect for blues history. - "Whipping Post" is always worth it, but my favorite is "Elizabeth Reed". - the Frere Jacques and Joy to the World quotes get me every time. - i accidentally loaded up the six hour version with all the takes, and listened to most of it. I even survived 35 minutes of "Mountain Jam". Verdict: Grudging admiration. This really is the absolute peak of white dude blues rock. Listen Again? Not for a very long time, but I had a great time today. Thanks, 1001!

One of the greatest live albums of all time and I’m glad it’s on this list. Such a brilliant blend of blues, R&B, country, rock and jazz. The modal jazz influence is particularly interesting, especially on Liz Reed and Hot ‘Lanta. A really important album for me and has been a huge favourite for years. REMEMBER DUANE ALLMAN

There are some fucking long ass jams on this album. But they are great long jams.

A classic, no doubt. Perhaps one of the best Live albums ever made. Blues lends itself to being a great springboard for jamming out and it is used as such here as well. I really like anything they do and this is their magnus opus. Everything just comes together here to be great. My favorites are the side long jams where they just go ham and do everything. Explaining why you enjoy an album is harder than explaining why you don't like something so that's all I can say haha.

WoW- I forgot how grateful this album is! It rocks non-stop from the first track to last.. and the jam sessions are amazing!!! Love the album cover...wonder what was said ti get everyone to crack up? So wish I got a chance to see them = \ = too bad the Bros are gone, 'cause there's a man down there might be your man, I don't know...

One of my desert island records. Probably a top-ten album of all time for me, and one that I know so intimately I could practically play the whole thing in my head. *At Fillmore East* is everything I love about the Allman Brothers Band, everything I love about blues rock, and really, everything I love about music in general. It's an absolute masterpiece. Duane Allman is at his peak here. The tone, the phrasing, the slide work, the interplay with Dickey Betts. Just astonishing stuff. And what makes it so special isn't simply the technical brilliance, although there's plenty of that. It's the way these guys listen to each other, respond to each other, and build something collectively that none of them could have created alone. Gregg sounds phenomenal, his voice carrying that impossibly soulful, world-weary blues quality that somehow sounds like it belongs to a man three times his age. And the rhythm section is just a monster. Two drummers, Berry Oakley's bass weaving through everything, and the whole band moving together like some enormous, six-headed organism. And the songs. Jesus Christ, the songs. "Statesboro Blues" is about as perfect an opening statement as you could ask for. "Done Somebody Wrong" and "Stormy Monday" are fantastic, but it's when the band really starts stretching out that this album becomes something transcendent. "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is one of the greatest instrumental performances in rock history. The interplay between Duane and Dickey, the way the improvisation builds and evolves, the shifting dynamics, the sheer musical conversation happening between everyone onstage. It's breathtaking. And then there's "Whipping Post." Seventeen minutes of absolute fucking glory. That entire final side of the original record is just massive. The song starts with that iconic bass line, Gregg sounds like he's singing from the bottom of his soul, and then the band just takes off into another dimension. The tension, the release, the extended solos, the way everything seems to fall apart and then miraculously come back together. It's not just a long song. It's a journey. And even after hearing it countless times, I still get completely swept up in it. This album, along with Cream's first couple of records, was really my introduction to the idea of the extended rock jam. Before I even knew what a jam band was, I knew that there was something about a group of extraordinary musicians taking a blues progression and spending fifteen or twenty minutes exploring every possible corner of it that absolutely fascinated me. The thrill of a seventeen-minute blues improvisation turned me on infinitely more than any three-minute pop song ever could. I wanted the solos to keep going. I wanted to hear where the musicians would take things next. I loved that the same song could be played differently every night, that the magic was happening in real time, and that nobody, including the musicians themselves, necessarily knew exactly where it was going. And I think that experience fundamentally shaped my musical tastes. My love of improvisation, blues guitar, long-form instrumental passages, and musicians who can communicate through their instruments rather than simply reproduce a studio recording all traces back, at least in part, to records like this one. It's probably also why I've always gravitated toward guitarists like Duane Allman, Clapton, and Hendrix over the more technically acrobatic shredders who came later. There's a conversational quality to this kind of playing. It's about feel, phrasing, spontaneity, and knowing when to play and when to let the music breathe. The recording itself is fantastic, too. There's a warmth and immediacy to it that makes you feel like you're sitting somewhere in the Fillmore East, watching this incredible band do what they do best. You can hear the instruments clearly, but it never feels sterile or overly polished. It's raw and organic without sacrificing fidelity. And unlike so many live albums, there's absolutely no sense that the band is just running through its greatest hits for an audience. These are the definitive versions of these songs. In many cases, the studio recordings almost feel like sketches compared with what happens here. There's also something bittersweet about listening to Duane at the absolute height of his powers, knowing how little time he had left. He sounds completely fearless, completely in command of his instrument, and completely immersed in the music. The fact that he was only 24 when he died later that year is almost impossible to comprehend. What he accomplished in such a short time, and what he might have gone on to accomplish, is one of rock music's great tragedies. I know this record like the back of my hand. Every solo, every transition, every little musical flourish. And somehow, after all these years, it still sounds as exciting to me as it did when I first discovered it. That's the mark of something truly special. Not just an album you admire, or one you recognize as historically important, but one that's become part of your musical DNA. One of the greatest live albums ever recorded. One of the greatest blues-rock albums ever recorded. Hell, one of the greatest rock albums ever recorded, period. 10/10. Perfect. Desert island stuff.

I enjoyed it!

I'm usually not a fan of live albums, but this one really changed my perspective of that. Every song is somehow better than the last and the extended solos and jam sessions feel like they never get old or stale. It really cements the Allman Brothers Band as one of the best, if not THE best, jam bands of all time. Highlights, of course, are Whipping Post and You Don't Love Me but don't sleep on In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. 13 minutes and 7 seconds of pure jam band bliss.

Classic Southern Rock live album, a benchmark for the genre. I've got the ridiculously long expanded edition to listen to here!

It grew a bit tiresome. but the good parts were very good.

Great music to work to. Keeps me focused and is high energy so I want to get shit done. I still like Live at Leeds better but I admit I'm incredibly biased.

Pretty great if this is what you’re looking for, which I occasionally am. Frank and I saw Geese in Boston last night. Pretty awesome. Putting a lot of my eggs in this basket and they haven’t disappointed yet. Somewhat surprising development from this show, LOT of mosh pitting. We were with the olds in the balcony looking down on the wild youngins. I think I’d like to mosh once. Maybe next time. Geese rock.

I pretty much have the same feelings towards this as I do with Live At Leeds by The Who, so this also gets a mid 4

A great live recording from this folk rock band from the 70s. I wish Midnight Rider would have made the track listing, but hard to argue that this performance is lacking in any way.

Really cool, but I get kinda distracted with really long songs and just end up vibing without really listening, but part from that, I liked it a lot.

I don't understand why people like noodling so much.

Very solid album, some great jams. Cant go wrong with this.

VERY LONG SONGS A WHOLE ASS 20 MINUTES I LIKE IT NON THE LESS BUT NOT MY TYPE OF SONGS . shkurt sm pelqeu

Bändin nimi oli tuttu, mutta en tiennyt mitä odottaa. Tuotantonsa täysin vierasta. Ajatuksia: - piiitkiä kitarasooloja ja ylipäätään sooloja, musa jopa rakentuu sooloille mutta siitä huolimatta pitää otteessaan paremmin kuin perinteisten rockbändie joskus ylipitkät tiliulilu-sooloilut - mielettömän upeat soundit ja miksaus, toki soittotaidollakin merkitystä asiaan, onhan tämä live - Hot’Lanta ja In memory of Elizabeth Reed nousivat suosikeiksi - muut eritysmaininnan ansaitsevat raidat 35 minuuttinen Mountain Jam rumpusooloineen sekä One way out - tulin kuunnelleeksi yli parituntisen DeLuxe-editionin, silti albumi piti otteessaan koko kestonsa ajan - se, että Blues ei todellakaan ole mun kuppi teetä, ei muuttunut albumin kuuntelulla. Tämä oli kuitenkin melkoista soittojuhlaa loistavilla soundeilla ja miksauksella - mieletön rumpali, tekniikka, tempo ja ennen muuta dynamiikka. Niin rumpalilla kuin toki koko bändillä on Blues hallussa ja syvä ymmärrys bluesia kohtaan. Niin tai siis tässähän on kaksi rumpalia, kehut molemmille. Kuuntele vaikka Mountain Jamin rumpusoolo! Oletan, että bluesrockia ei tämän paremmin voi tehdä ja soittaa. Ei voi kuin ihailla. En kaikesta hehkutuksesta huolimatta usko, että ihan heti olen kuuntelemassa albumia uudestaan mutta iltakuunteluna oli fantastinen kuuntelukokemus. Tämä oli 1001-listaa parhaimmmillaan taas, en olisi mitenkään tullut tätä kuunnelleeksi ilman tätä suurta missiota :) 4/5

great album - delivers on all counts.

Okay songs but way toooo long!

I tried, honestly. But they just kept playing the blues endlessly and I had to skip forward several times.

I wasn’t sold right away but as the album played on it became quite apparent just how skilled The Allman Brothers were. They seem to thrive in the live setting, working so well with one another, just cruising along working in fantastic guitar spots. Elizabeth Reed stood out as a favourite but the entire album went down so smooth despite its lengthy runtime. 4 stars

jazzy rock vibes. no single song reached out to me, i liked the whole album though. easy to put on and relax to.

Wow, I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! The dueling lead guitars are much more rock-sounding than I expected.

Endless jam . . . Blues, ok

Allman Brothers are a favorite of mine. That slide guitar. This album is a live album classic. One of the few live albums that actually feel like something special. Excited for a re listen. This version of Statesboro Blues is the definitive. This is just southern blues rock at its best. One of my favorite sounds ever is this guitar sound. Duane Allman in his finest. The true duel guitar Allman sound. I can just listen to this in the background all day. Great music. It’s a jam session for a lot of it but it’s such engrossing music. The guitar soloing is constant and great. Love In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. Just a bluesy jam Feels unfair that this is the only Allman Bros album on this list. One of the greatest American rock bands of all time. This is going to be a 5 from me. It deserves it. Arguably one of the greatest live albums ever. And probably the best combined jam album ever. It’s just a full on rock out the whole way through. Love it. Ending with Whipping Post too is a classic. Great song made even better by this long jam version of it.

Number: 302 Familiarity: Aware (2) Rating: 3 Before: ======= Never been into southern rock that much, even though I am from the south and many of my contemporizes did listen to this type of music. I know The Allman Brothers are considered to be one of the greats. I never gave them much thought. Let's see what I think now. During: ======= Track one is not too bad, more blues rock than southern rock I would say. After : ======= Overall pretty good but really long.

Возможно мне было бы приятно услышать это в живую, но слушать в записи лайв, джем альбом... не совсем понимаю

I'm late with my reviews and listening notes at the moment and listened to this about 4 days ago so it's not too fresh in my mind. But I should have hated this, a double vinyl album with one song at 19 minutes long and another at 22 minutes long. But this jazz rock, blues, jam, southern rock live album seems to work despite itself. The band gels really well together and it's tight sounding at times, loose at others and the 'live' element by all accounts captures the band at the peak of their powers. 4 stars I think.

#64 No live albums

cute

Not my bag

Incredible southern rock jam band and incredible album. Particularly like that it was 4 discs (double record in the 70s) and live.

not my vibe

Awesome

Normally not interested in 1: live albums, and 2: instrumentals, and 3: 15 minute songs. But this was bearable unlike some previous albums

The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East (1971) On Day 305, this legendary live set delivered an exceptionally engaging listen that turned extended runtimes into a massive strength rather than a hurdle. Operating at the intersection of electric blues and Southern rock with the sharp improvisational instincts of a jazz ensemble, the band demonstrated peerless chemistry from start to finish. The interplay between Duane Allman's searing slide guitar and Dickey Betts' lyrical phrasing was matched stride-for-stride by Gregg Allman's soulful, gravelly vocal delivery and driving Hammond organ. Backed by a dual-drummer rhythm section that kept every transition dynamic and purposeful, sprawling cuts like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," "Stormy Monday," and the monumental "Whipping Post" remained captivating throughout. A masterclass in live organic musicianship and dynamic stamina. A strong 4/5.

Much noodling, not much groove from an otherwise very competent band. Surprising.

rock & rolll bby. Mola mucho el ritmo que tiene el disco

It’s faaaar too long and I kept being tempted to give it a 2 because of that, but I’m an absolute sucker for a guitar solo and this album has about 600 of them

Bluesy, jazzy and outstanding muscal depth

70s rock

I wouldn’t run to turn this off but I would never choose to turn it on

Meh. Pretty basic blues jams to my ears.

Allman brothers hang it tf up

Du blues, très répétitif, assez long, des plans de guitare qui reviennent encore et encore... C'est assumé mais vraiment pas ce que j'ai envie d'écouter.

Not a massive fan of jam bands, but mostly well played

9/10

Really great, fun album to listen to.

BANGER

Bluesy and soulful. It loses me a bit with the disparate noodling that seems untethered to the song it emerges in our even any timing or beat.

Some top tier blues, no doubt about that. Its the type of music that focuses on the impressivness of the instrumental playing, such as ridiculously long guitars solos, which are impressive, don't get me wrong, but less my personal kind of blues. An all time live album? Probably. The kind of thing I would listen too often? Ehhh...

Great southern rock band. Good live album

I hate you

This was a southern, bluesy style live rock album. The songs are mostly instrumental and there's lots of improvised jamming. It wasn't super meandering, I thought it was nice to listen to. My favorite song (and the one with the jamming I enjoyed the most) was "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed".

I have this album from 1971. 5 stars all day long. My high school friends and I had an anti establishment, anti Nixon, anti Vietnam war underground newspaper we called The Whipping Post. We printed it from mimeograph sheets and distributed it around the school. Good times. This album was one of the best.

A live masterpiece.

I do not find most live albums appealing. This is not an exception.

Banger

It's blues. Hard not to enjoy but also, hard for me to tell myself to listen to this more than once. There's really good choruses and the solos have a great feeling to them, though some do last for quite a long time (up to you to decide if you like that or not). Overall, it's quite good but, it might be a bit less for me is all.

Bueno, muy muy bueno 7/10

Great album by a great band

American Southern blues rock jam band album at its peak. And it's live.

Right, it's blues. Like if Muddy Waters kept going. Really nothing else to be said for it. Maybe if I'm generous some of the chords are a bit jazzy? You Don't Love Me is a bit fun, but why so long? Oh, just ages of soloing and vague improv It does get a bit more jammy and jazzy throughout I guess, but still too long. Oh god, then the last track is 23mins long!! Dammit this album makes itself hard to like! Best track - You Don't Love Me (but it's too long), Hot Lanta (is short at least), In Memory of Elizabeth Reed 3 stars - in places I love the jazzy jam, in other places the standard blues bore me to death. Probably one of the patchiest albums I've had so far!

Sounds like it would have been great to be there but this long jam session doesn't really translate well to the album format for me.

Allman brothers and a lot of it

Surprising even myself, I actually enjoyed this one. I wasn't familiar with any of these songs before, so hearing them for the first time in a live setting did bring something else out from them. The songs being stretched out makes the track less about the song itself and more about the performance, and these guys are certainly very proficient musicians. Immaculate atmosphere, really transports you to the early 70's. Key tracks: Statesboro Blues

Classic "blues rock" records tend to age poorly, but this one still sound great. The longer cuts are the best.

5/5

Really long

An amazing set done by the Allman Brothers Band at the height of their power. Plenty of blues licks, southern dance jams with a quality that's pretty much unparalleled. "Stormy Monday" is a beautiful slow burner of a blues track, "You Don't Love Me" is a jam masterpiece with a solo that transcends blues and enters funk, and even metal territory, and how can we forget the monolithic, epic, and downright just plain huge, Whipping Post. I'm not a fan of live albums, or double album wank fests, but this here is basically a tutorial on how to wank your life out on a double platter and still leave someone like me amused. Props to the band, and especially Duane, who leaves me captivated with every listen.

i love long smooth instrumentals

I discovered The Allman Brothers Band in college, had their greatest hits CD, and didn’t really listen again once I graduated. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Seeing The Allman Brothers Band live would have been amazing. I can only imagine what it would be like to see and hear all those guitar riffs! This album is solid. I must confess that I skipped the 32-minute “Mountain Jam” though. Their sound is so special and the way that they rock so hard while also being so bluesy is awesome.

7.5/10. Certainly a different live show experience than the current day offers, it was filled with a lot of riffing, instrumentation, and less structured songs than many concerts, which made for an interesting listen. Long instrumentals, 20+ minute songs, and not much produced music released before this meant it was more about improvisation and creating something unique and interesting. I enjoyed the music style, though I might not do the full album again; it was nice for background, however.

Great music, but super long.

another really well done live album. that said, i dont really enjoy the jam band thing when not actually listening live. it sounds like it wouldve been a lot of fun though

Ok - I initially approached this thinking "oh great, more derivative rock blues". But I actually enjoyed this. I don't think it's greatest album of all time material. Nowhere near the Miles Cellar Door sessions. But it was fun.

Nettes BluesRock-Album. Spannend lange Tracks um viele Nuancen des HiFi-Systems zu genießen.

I love live albums i love live albums i love quotes in music i love knowing that the albums going to end when that lullaby song comes on i love the groove SO sad that an 18 min song doesnt usually flow in a playlist (I WILL make it happen tho) 5/7

노래 분위기가 꽤 괜찮았고, 좋은 노래도 몇 곡 있었다. The songs were pretty good; there were some really great tracks.

jam session dann doch irgendwann nur noch Brei? c

Very bluesy. Good energy. Fun album

Really nice to listen to while working. It's personally not super distracting but also enjoyable and high energy. I'm enjoying the fact that it's all instrumental, makes it very good for how I normally listen to music. These are LONG tracks though, so the album is actually like 4 times the length I expected.

Impressive instrumental, what a cool listen :)

This is a very good album. Greg Allman has a great voice. A bluesy, soulful voice. The guitar playing is phenomenal. I assume most of the work is done by Duane Allman. They do a combination of covers and original songs. The covers are blues songs. On a lot of the songs the have long long jams in my opinion sometimes too long. This is a period in music where this happened a lot. Punk/New Wave was a reaction to that. The organ playing is quite good. The album cover is quite interesting. They look like a bunch of hippies. This is very good album. Four stars

Regular usual The Allman Brothers Band experience, love it

I enjoyed that much more than I thought I would. I typically don't like live albums, but the noodling of the blues was really nice to listen to while working. The vocals were kinda nothing, though.

Favorite track(s): Statesboro Blues, Stormy Monday, You Don't Love Me, Hot 'Lanta, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Whipping Post This is what people think Lynyrd Skynyrd sounds like. Maybe it was for the best that Duane wasn't around to see them. Heard before Previous rating: 9/10

Decent if unremarkable live album. Musicians sound really good without gripping me. 3/5

Eh.

This fucks so hard

Dangerously close to awful, but it’s not. Incredible.

In Memory of Elizabeth Reed is nice

3★/5 10.05.2026

Look, it’s a live album. Allman brothers are great, but you know, live album.

Jam bands have a certain you-had-to-be-there element to their appeal, eh? I do broadly like blues rock, and certain jam bands I like a lot, but I find the bluesier jam bands tend to fall back on just soloing on a very well trodden riff for far too long. By the time this gets to Elizabeth Reed there are some super great vibes going, but the fact that it opens straight into extremely middle of the road blues stompers that feel like middle of the set filler type tracks is absolutely heinous to me. Where’s the sense of vision, atmosphere and journey? If you’re going to play long form psychedelic music I need to be taken on a full arc, not just dropped in to a lukewarm riff and have that extended into a bunch of show-off solos.

a fun listen, wasn’t super locked into this tho

ok - not sure why it is considered so great...

A great example of why I don't generally like live albums. Three excessively lengthy tracks with extended, indulgent solos. Perhaps I would have loved this if I was off my rocker on LSD in a field in the 1970s. To listen to at home on a rainy Friday afternoon, it just feels like it's wasting my time. Aside from that, most of the songs sounded like basically the same blues structure to me. I don't like giving it a 1 - musically it's OK, albeit not my cup of tea - but with the last track over 20 minutes I'm not sure I can award a 2.