BY YVONNE ZUSEL
It takes a lot of chutzpah for a band to leave off its setlist the song that first put them on the map. A group has to be pretty confident in the rest of its oeuvre to not play the one song they know the majority of the crowd is waiting to hear.
The rock band Alabama Shakes certainly took a gamble by deciding not to play their breakthrough single “Hold On” during their show Friday night at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta. Lucky for them, their roughly 90-minute set was so good – at times awe-inspiring – that the omission was nearly overlooked.
To be fair, Shakes lead singer Brittany Howard could have sung lyrics from various Chinese takeout menus and still commanded the attention of the near-capacity crowd. Her voice, clear and soulful, wowed right out of the gate on “Future People,” from the band’s highly regarded second album, “Sound & Color,” and remained unrelentingly soul-stirring throughout.
Howard, who has one of the most expressive faces in rock, wore her pain on her in her eyes on the emotive “Heartbreaker,” and turned preacher on “Gospel Song,” speaking truth to power as she roamed the stage with the mic.
The rest of the band provided impressive backup to Howard’s magnificent instrument -- Heath Fogg’s guitar provided a lushness to “Miss You” (which Howard said was dedicated to Ricky, “who’s in jail”), while Zac Cockrell’s bass and Steve Johnson’s percussion gave a slinky, sexy vibe to “Sound & Color.” Three backup singers from Columbus, Ga., lent an interesting texture to songs that Howard normally sings solo. And Howard’s voice is so powerful that it’s easy to forget that she’s an impressive guitar player in her own right.
The group closed out their set with a deeply felt version of “Over My Head,” on which Howard sang of “lovin' so deeply, I feel it through all my past lives.”
It was a perfect showcase for her treasure of a voice, and proof that even when the band decides to take a night off from playing their biggest hit, they make up for it by delivering an otherwise perfect show.
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