Album Review: Live from Atlanta by Lucero

Live from Atlanta, recorded over three nights last November at the titular city's Terminal West, is Lucero's first live album, and it comes as close as possible to capturing the live Lucero experience without getting beer spilled in your hair or getting kicked in the forehead by a drunken stage diver. At 32 songs and 125 minutes long, the album clocks in right about where the band's nightly marathons do, in the process eschewing the boring convention of cherry-picking and bastardizing a live set just to fit it all on a single disc. In that spirit, Live from Atlanta goes beyond the songs, capturing every detail possible of Lucero's shows, including frontman Ben Nichols's drinking-buddy banter, which grows increasingly slurred by the end of the set, and an announcement by the band's convivial bear of a bass player, John C.

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The American South is the home of "loosely tight," the blessed phenomenon when a band is striking hard on all cylinders but still has a potent, satisfying swing in their step as they command the groove. Proud sons of Memphis, Tennessee, Lucero present a master's class in "loosely tight" on Live from Atlanta, a 32-song live set recorded in November 2013 during a three-night stand in the Peach State. Lucero are vocally proud of their status as road dogs who tour relentlessly year after year, and Live from Atlanta confirms that hard work has paid dividends.

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If the purpose of a live album is to make you wish you were at the show, Lucero’s Live In Atlanta certainly succeeds. It’s the Memphis band’s first live record, and a 32-track opus of one, at that. It’s like their own The Last Waltz, without the whole farewell concert shadow, because Lucero seems like a tireless act. Calling Lucero a “Southern rock” band is limiting.

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LuceroLive From Atlanta(Liberty & Lament)3.5 Stars Live From Atlanta is the long over due debut live album for a band who has built its reputation over the last fifteen years as one of the most consistently exciting club shows in the country. Featuring the group’s trademark sweaty blend of southern punk and country-soul, this rowdy double album spans the Tennessee-based Lucero’s extensive discography, from the tales of roaming vagabonds on 2001’s “Raising Hell” to the tender ballad “Goodbye Again” from 2009. And for those wondering if the band would clean up its stage show for a sterile live release, at one point the crowd is given a scolding about throwing too many beer cans on stage.

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