Video of the original Allman Brothers Band is very rare.
There’s a bit from July 1970 that’s circulated—Atlanta Pop Festival and Love Valley1, and the band’s September 1970 set at Fillmore East was recorded for TV, though it never aired due to sound issues. (Here’s the best version of anything from that set I’ve yet to see: “Whipping Post.”)
Sometime in 2015, this less than 2-minute segment silent footage from the At Fillmore East sessions emerged.
By March 19, 2015, Jules Fothergill synced audio that had been released on The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings.
All songs are from 3/13/71 early show—“Done Somebody Wrong” “You Don’t Love Me” and “Whipping Post”—none of these versions made the final album.
As you watch
Check out Duane and Dickey’s body language.
There’s a real physicality to their playing that you don’t often get to see paired up with the music.
The YDLM “conversation” is particularly telling. Dickey talked a lot about how close they were.2
It really shows when you watch them together here.3
More on Jules
Jules and I developed quite a friendship bonding over Duane and Jack Pearson, who had just joined the ABB when we met around 1998.
I say met. We were pen pals actually, trading bootleg cassettes internationally—me in the States and Jules in the UK.
I saw him each time I visited England (2003 and 2014) and once when he came to Nashville and jammed with Jack Pearson (2014).
Jules died of cancer in March 2019. I never got a chance to share Play All Night! with him, which always makes me a little bit sad. He's among those I thank posthumously in the Acknowledgments.
I’m posting this footage today in his honor March 15, 2025.4
About that jam session
Jules was a phenomenal guitarist and the world's foremost Jackie P. fan. He learned Jack’s licks off of bootleg tapes and cd's he'd get from me and a host of others here in the U.S.
In 2014 Jules and his wife Lorna came to visit us in Nashville and Jules got to meet Jack and pick a whole bunch.
Here’s video of them meeting for the first time.
As in: they shook hands, Jack handed him a guitar, and away they went.
Even cooler, Jack said something like, “This one's tuned to open C5, you good with that?”
“I think so, we'll see,” Jules said. And then he proceeded to play this beautiful solo.6
They played together for more than 2 hours that night
It was among the most ABBsolutely magical nights of my life, watching my friend and brother play with an Allman Brother. They were truly brothers-in-arms, the love and camaraderie was apparent throughout the night.
We hit Broadway for beers after we packed up.
Right before we took this photo, Jules said to me:
“I can’t believe I just fucking jammed with Jack Pearson!”
Lagniappe
High Falls July 2, 1998, from Jules’s Youtube channel
Also silent footage synced to audio.
For those who prefer, I’ve posted this on Youtube as well.
Here's the link from Jules’s page which has all kinds of goodies including some incredible Jack Pearson ABB moments.
(Or B or Bb. I remember it was a weird key. Someone help me out here.)
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