Longtime jammers and southern rock pioneers The Allman Brothers Band ended their 45-year run Tuesday night (Oct. 28) at New York's Beacon Theatre, and there was no sign of co-founding guitarist Dickey Betts onstage.
Frontman Gregg Allman said that he had reached out to Betts, who was dismissed from the band in 2000, for the final shows, but there was a scheduling conflict. The guitarist's manager begged to differ. "This is a load of crap!" he wrote on Facebook. "Dickey was never asked to be a part of the final shows. A complete lie!" Now, Betts is throwing some shade at his former band.
"I kind of question whether to say this or not," he said during an interview with Ticket Sarasota, "but it's almost like the Allman Brothers turned into an Allman Brothers tribute band."
The guitarist also talked about his dismissal from the band, which was reportedly due to alcohol and drug abuse. "Human nature is you work shoulder to shoulder in a real emotional kind of setting and there are jealousies that come up," he said. "There's resentment, and resentment turns to just outright bad things. And that's what happened."
Betts had a few nice words to say during the chat, including that Allman has a "golden voice." And now that ABB is over, at least for awhile, the guitarist sees it as a direct benefit to him and his touring band. "It makes it easier on my band because half their show is shit I wrote, which I do in my show," he said. "I don't have to do Gregg Allman songs. It will be easier as far as people understanding."
Just for old time's sake, though, here's The Bros in rare form in 1970.
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