Marshall Tucker Band took the highway to Ameristar Casino Friday night

The Marshall Tucker Band at Ameristar Casino, Dec. 1. // Courtesy Ameristar Casino-Kansas City, Alex Agueros

On Dec. 1, The Marshall Tucker Band brought their 2023 Infinite Road Tour to Kansas City, celebrating 50 years of their traditional southern rock.

Current band members, guitarists Chris Hicks and Rick Willis, percussionist B.B. Borden, bassist Ryan Ware, flutist, saxophonist, and keyboard player Marcus James Henderson, and lead vocalist Doug Gray jammed out in front of an older crowd at the Star Pavilion.

Their hour-and-a-half-long set brought the audience back to the band’s golden days of the ’70s, relishing in the sound and reflecting on simpler times. 

The long-tenured band performed many of their greatest hits, including “Fire on the Mountain,” “Heard It in a Love Song,” and “Blue Ridge Mountain Sky,” all spanning over ten-minute takes as they let their solos get the best of the crowd.

Marcus James Henderson Playing Flute at Ameristar Casino, Dec. 1. // Courtesy Ameristar Casino-Kansas City, Alex Agueros

One of the most memorable moments of the night came when Henderson took the crowd by storm as he opened up one of their well-known songs, “Take the Highway,” with a breathtaking flute solo. 

After three minutes of blowing into the copper-based woodwind, the other five musicians joined Henderson as he began belching the lyrics of the song. 

The level of talent and skill that was put on display by Henderson to alternate between flute, vocals, and keys throughout the entirety of the song is unparalleled, and quite frankly something that is seen very rarely out of modern-day musicians.

Chris Hicks Singing at Ameristar Casino, Dec. 1. // Courtesy Ameristar Casino-Kansas City, Alex Agueros

But Henderson’s flair was not the only musical genius on display that night. Every one of the band members played with spry, especially during their astonishing solos, masking the wrinkles and calluses that they physically carry with them. Any passing-by listener could have never guessed that most of these musicians are beyond the age of 50.

On top of their jam-band style hits that were their claim to fame, the band also played a couple of more recently published songs, “Dog Eat Dog World” and “Georgia Moon,” written by Hicks on a solo album from 2008. 

While the rest of the band took a quick intermission, Hicks and Henderson gave members of the audience chills as they began the intro of “Georgia Moon,” a hymn of lonesomeness and isolation. Hicks’s soul and spirit could be felt through each strum of strings and puff of air.

Marcus James Henderson, Chris Hicks, and Doug Gray Performing at Ameristar Casino, Dec. 1. // Courtesy Ameristar Casino-Kansas City, Alex Agueros

Gray, the band’s only remaining original member, told tales of the group’s early days and reminisced on the time he had with his late fellow musicians. Methods of raising kids in the ’50s and ’60s were much different than today, and Gray reminded everyone of this when he explained how his mother would lock him in the closet when he misbehaved.

Some of the older audience members must’ve been able to relate with the 75-year-old, offering some laughs after the anecdote. 

He also mentioned that during his seven decades as a ramblin’ man, he’s had four and a half wives, sticking true to the persona that the band members have always displayed. “It’s like deer, you gotta keep looking,” Gray says.

As the night came to a close, the South Carolina and Georgia rock legends closed the night out with arguably their greatest hit, “Can’t You See,” originally released on their debut self-titled album from 1973. 

After having the audience sing the chorus about ten different times, the all-time classic flute outro that Jerry Eubanks masterfully crafted back in the early 70’s led the band off into the casino-lit sunset.