Except for Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home" companionship a night earlier, the most Minnesota-centric moment at State Fair grandstand stage this year had to be when the Black Crowes pulled Bob Dylan's "Girl From the North Country" out of its hippie-fringe sleeves on Saturday night.
Well into a meandering two-hour set, "Girl" was played in an understated, down-homey fashion -- truly Minnesotan. It was one of the rare occasions when the band's forever-feuding brothers Chris and Rich Robinson were in genuine harmony.
Otherwise, a lot of Saturday's concert came off like a Stones-style standoff of egos, and not just the Robinsons'. Longtime Crowes drummer Steve Gorman and new keyboardist Adam MacDougall each ate up ample time in the spotlight, while new guitarist Luther Dickinson -- recruited from his great blues-stomp band the North Mississippi Allstars -- subtly outshined them all.
The band's set list picked heavily from its new album, "Warpaint," a decision that felt a little conceited by show's end. The material proved fine at first with the opening gems "Movin' on Down the Line" and "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution," powerful, psychedelic soul-rockers buoyed by Chris' solid voice. But the crowd of 4,625 seemed less impressed as the band dug into deeper "Warpaint" cuts. Only a few of the Crowes' memorable oldies showed up, including "Thorn in My Side" in a bloated 10-minute jam.
The band rebounded with four more cover songs and culminated with a rousing encore of the Band's "Baby Don't You Do It."
The opening act, the Black Keys, went a lot further with a lot less. Just two guys playing a guitar and drums for 45 minutes, the Ohio blues-rockers roused the crowd with fiery rockers such as "10 A.M. Automatic" and "Thickfreakness," but really won fans over with the grittier but stormier "Stack Shot Billy" and "I Got Mine."
See the bands' set lists at startribune.com/music. Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658
