Warpaint Live

AMG Review of Warpaint Live

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

More memento than major statement, 2009's WarPaint Live -- available as a DVD and a two-CD set -- finds the Black Crowes running through their 2008 comeback Warpaint in its entirety during a gig in Los Angeles, adding a five-song coda of covers and Crowes classics. Warpaint was a reunion and revitalization for the Black Crowes, their best album in a long time, and much of that renewed energy can be heard in this performance, which manages to be loose and tight, the work of a band comfortable in its own skin and strength. Apart from the closing covers, highlighted by a coolly confident "Torn and Frayed" and a raucous "Hey Grandma," surprises are a bit hard to come by, but that's not a problem because the band never sounds tired; they're engaged, so it's hard not to be swept up in their enthusiasm too.