Soulshine: Memorable Moments From The All-Star Hurricane Relief Benefit At MSG

Some of my personal highlights from our generation's The Last Waltz. I am so proud of Warren Haynes for making this happen.

Dave Matthews Band w/ Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks. MSG , Soulshine, 11/24/24. Photo by Marc MIllman.

Warren Haynes is a native of Asheville, North Carolina and the guitarist has raised millions of dollars for his hometown via his annual Christmas Jam concert which =has brought musical luminaries from Haynes’ Allman Brothers Band to Dave Grohl, Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones to the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann to town.

This year, Asheville and the surrounding area were in desperate need of aid in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, storm which not only devastated the area but made it logistically impossible to hist a big concert. The hurricanes hit September, days before Haynes was about to announce the 2025 Christmas Jam, leaving many residents of the area without basic needs like food, water and electricity. ExploreAsheville.com Arena, which hosts the main Jam, canceled its remaining 2024 events.

Haynes pivoted to planning a massive hurricane relief concert, to be held at Madison Square Garden – which hosted The Concert for Bangladesh on August 1, 1971. That was, I believe, the first major All Star charity relief concert.

With Warren, Derek Trucks, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews Band, Goose and others on the bill, I had to be there but wasn’t sure how I could be due to my fractured ankle. Promoter Pete Shapiro helped fast track me to an ADA ticket and the MSG services were excellent. The whole show was MONSTER, spectacular and wonderful and I am very thankful to have been there. Below are some of my highlights. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nighsweats played a great set as well. I didn’t include any of it, just because there wasn’t a lot of jamming or collaboration and that’s what I chose to emphasize, because that was, to me, the point and highlight of the night.

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Dave Matthews and Warren Haynes, “Soulshine”
This is how the night began promptly at 7 PM, with the two forces behind it joining forces for an acoustic version of “Soulshine,” the evening’s title track.

Goose with Derek Trucks, “Hungersite”
I respect how Goose made their set a full on jamapoalooza, with guests on almost every song. Dave Matthews for Bruce Hornsby’s “That’s Just The Way It Is” was wonderful. Derek joined them for their best-known, most accessible song and they just blazed it. Listen to the brief pause and the crowd explosion as Derek starts to unwind his slide solo. A magical moment in a magical night.

Warren Haynes Band with Derek Trucks and Joe Russo, “Whipping Post”

The entire Warren Haynes Band set was a highlight for me, of course. Every time Derek Trucks and Warren play together anywhere is a highlight. They played a beautiful version of “These Changes,” their collaboration on WH’s new Million Voices Whisper album. But if I’m going tio pick one song, it has to be “Whipping Post,” because hearing it ripped at MSG was a very, very emotional moment for me. Very proud of Warren, Derek and my new buddy Kevin Scott, who drove the song on bass. #theroadgoesonforever

Susan Tedeschi and Dave Matthews, “Angel From Montgomery”

The acoustic interludes between sets were all great, but “Angel” is “Angel” and Susan is Susan, so… God bless the memory of John Prine. We were lucky to live on earth at the same time as him. Warren and Dave doing “Carolina On My Mind” was also incredibly powerful, with Warren singing the first lines a cappella to a silent MSG.

Thank you to MSG ADA services for allowing me to attend the show, and Pete Shapiro and Dayglo Presents for making it easy for me.

“Melissa” - Dave Matthews Band with Warren , Derek and Trey
Of course this had to be here. I felt your presence strongly, Gregory. The DMB were great throughout, and Warren, Derek and Trey on stage together is inherently cool. I’d have loved to see them do a real throwdown.

“The Weight,” Trey Anastasio, Nathaniel Rateliff, Susan Tedeschi and Dave Matthews

This is the only one of these videos I created, shot by my friend Art. I like how he captured both the intimacy of the stage and the intensity and mass of the audience. Appropriate for what really did feel like our Last Waltz. I’d bet anything that Mavis Staples, who dueted with Rateliff in his set was supposed to come out, and that’s why Susan took 2 verses.

Dave Matthews Band w/ Trey Anastasio, “Lie In Our Graves”

The DMB set was great. Trey and Dave played a very, very nice acoustic “Waste,” but this song was just superb, and Trey’s explosive slow burn solo was top notch.

Everyone - “Come Together” finale

I would have bet the house beforehand that the show would end with a “Soulshine” finale, but they opened with it. this was an on-point finale. Nothing much to add.

The paperback edition of my fourth book, Brothers and Sisters: the Allman Brothers Band and The Album That Defined The 70s, was recently released by St. Martin’s Press. It was the third consecutive one to debut in the New York Times Non-Fiction Hardcover Bestsellers List, following Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. My first book, Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, about my experiences raising a family in Beijing and touring China with a popular original blues band, was optioned for a movie by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Productions. I am also a guitarist and singer with two bands, Big in China and Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the Allman Brothers Band.