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LONDON - The incense was wafting, the singer was hippie hippie shaking and the Allman riffs were flying.
The Black Crowes must have been at the RBC Theatre at the John Labatt Centre last night.
So they were. With a crowd of 2,600 fans cheering their heroes after more than two hours pre-encore and incense-and-more aroma coating the empty seats in the 3,200-capacity venue, the mood and music were strong.
"Welcome to the Saturday night, 'music for heads, music by heads,' rock and roll show," lead singer Chris Robinson declaimed after the band opened with (Only) Halfway to Everywhere.
More than two hours -- and many extended jams -- later, the Black Crowes came back after a standing ovation with a cover of Bob Dylan and the Band's This Wheel's On Fire. Robinson and company still sounded, as the song says, ready to explode.
The main set had exploded, too, with a Black Crowes staple, Remedy, the best of their gospel-swamp-rock tunes, to finish.
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It had all started a lot more calmly than that. As a greeting, Robinson had raised his battered felt-like hat to the crowd and the fans had cheered right back. He gave the peace sign after the second song and generally danced about the way you'd expect someone wearing a peace symbol patch over a knee on tattered bellbottoms to dance.
But when he raised the mic stand to scream and shout, he sounded like the swamp rocker he is -- and last night, his bandmates played like men who had given away their souls to learn the secrets of the swamp.
Through the early going, there were thunderous jams and twin-guitars worthy of all those Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin comparisons that are always flying around the Crowes. Later, there were moments when the two guitars were in beautiful Allman Brothers synch, with flowing blues licks.
The band followed its opener with Sting Me, more jams and a rocking Got to Get Better in a Little While with retro-touch keyboards. After a pause, the Crowes rumbled, swamp-rock style, into Soul Singing, a hit from 2001.
The jams and Robinson's soulful shouting didn't let up much, except for a doze-inducing visit to the land of the mystic moods at the 90-minute mark with soft lights. It was followed by a generic jam band drum solo (cheers) and Robinson's harmonica (more cheers) before the real Crowes really flew once more.
The Crowes are ending a three-year hiatus with this tour. In 2002, Chris Robinson launched a solo career and brother Rich Robinson started the band Hookah Brown. By 2005, the band was back on tour, resulting in the new live DVD Freak 'N' Roll . . . Into the Fog and the tour that brought them to London.
Formed in Atlanta in the 1980s, the band was first called Mr. Crowes Garden, but by their debut album, the name had been amended and a lineup finalized: singer Chris Robinson, brother Rich and Jeff Cease on guitars, Steve Gorman on drums, and Johnny Colt on bass. The Robinsons and Gorman were on hand last night. The 2006 lineup includes a keyboard player and two female backup singers.
Those who think they know nothing about the Crowes probably know at least one thing -- if they've heard of movie star Kate Hudson. The daughter of film and TV star Goldie Hawn and musician Bill Hudson, Hudson has been married to Chris Robinson for more than five years. They have one son.
There is a rumour Hudson pushed the band to get back together again.
But there are rumours Hudson and her rockin' hubby were seen in the London region recently, looking over boats at a boutique marine-related firm.
What are you going to do when faced with a rumour like that? Just repeat it and note, they'd make a fine couple on a boat.
The Black Crowes didn't visit all their hits from the 1990s last night, even over two hours. They did make room for some revealing covers, sung by the guitarists.
In addition to the Dylan and Band beauty in the encore, there were at least two other trips back to the late 1960s and early 1970s -- British band Traffic's Pearly Queen and Neil Young sidekick Stephen Stills' Song of Love from the 1972 Manassas album.
Opening for the Crowes was Dartmouth rock band Matt Mays & El Torpedo. Mays outplugged the Crowes (two mentions) with urgings to the crowd to get over to Call the Office after the show and see a Newfoundland rockers, the Novaks (three plugs).
Mays figures he's put more than 200,000 kilometres on his van, the Night Owl, in about three years. Mays won four awards at the East Coast Music Awards, including single of the year for Cocaine Cowgirl, their closer last night. The group had just 30 minutes in its set.