Trucks drums up Allman Brothers gig

'How are you?" is just about the only question Butch Trucks, 63-year-old founding drummer for the Allman Brothers Band, needs to launch into a rambling, 45-minute phone tangent. In his thick drawl, Trucks touches on the band's first two nights of rehearsal for its upcoming 13-night return to the Beacon Theatre ("excellent - really, really excellent"); how drugs and alcohol almost did in the band in the late '70s, after legendary founding guitarist Duane Allman died in a motorcycle crash; his plan to move to a farmhouse in the South of France with his wife; and an impromptu quiz and lecture about pre-American philosophers such as Locke and Rousseau and their relevance to Republican union-busting in Wisconsin. In between, he says stuff like this.

Last year, due to the Beacon booking Cirque du Soleil's "Banana Shpeel," the Allmans had to move to the United Palace Theater after 20 years. Cirque flopped, and you're returning. Is that partly why the band is so energized during rehearsal?

Last year was cool and we had a good time, but it's just not the same. After all these years, there's just this vibe at the Beacon, and the audience there has just become such an integral part of what we do. ... It reminds me so much of the old days at the Fillmore.

Interesting. So ...

I haven't had this much fun playing music since Duane died, which was about the time the Fillmore closed. The music has always had kind of a blues base, but when Duane was alive, it was John Coltrane and Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock and Charlie Parker that was really informing where we were going. And after he died, we kind of lost that direction, and we started heading in a much more country direction.

Huh. And ...

I saw Duane go through periods where he played around with speed, where he messed around with coke - even smack, toward the end. But once he realized it was affecting his ability to make music, he stopped, and he had that strength. He had the ability to smack us on the head and say, "OK, Jack, you're getting too close to the edge." Once he was gone, nobody else had that power and we got to losing touch with where we were. You got to the point where the sex and the drugs got to be more important than rock and roll.

In addition to everything else, did that make the music less exciting?

There's no doubt about it. You know, it got boring. And then it was time to stop. ... You come backstage to an Allman Brothers show now, you will not find booze or drugs. Everybody is straight and everybody likes each other.

In 2009, you had a huge list of guest stars at the Beacon, including Eric Clapton. Any names you can share this year?

No. If people know what it is, it ain't a surprise!

WHO The Allman Brothers Band

WHEN | WHERE 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, Monday-Tuesday, March 17-19, March 21-22, March 24-26, Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway

INFO $74.89-$171.09; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com

SET LIST

Here's what the Allman Brothers Band played at last year's show opener at the United Palace:

Set 1:

* "Don't Keep Me Wondering "

* "Hot 'Lanta"

* "Statesboro Blues"

* "That's What Love Will Make You Do"

* "No One Left to Run With"

* "Desdemona"

* "Every Hungry Woman"

* "And It Stoned Me"

* "Kind of Bird"

Set 2

* "Melissa"

* "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City"

* "Come and Go Blues"

* "Rocking Horse"

* "Black Hearted Woman"/ Oteil jam/ "JaBuMaOt"/ "Black Hearted Woman"

* "Jessica"

Encore

* "Preaching Blues"

* "One Way Out"