Music lovers inside Englewood, NJ’s bergenPAC auditorium this Wednesday, August 27, 2025 evening prepare themselves to rock and roll again at a live Rattle, Ramble, and Roll Tour 2025 performance by Blackberry Smoke.
Led by singer/guitarist Charlie Starr, Blackberry Smoke was formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000 and quickly built a loyal fan base opening for such well-known acts as ZZ Top, The Zac Brown Band, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Supported by steady recording and constant touring, the band has brought Southern rock into the 21st century with an appealing blend of hard rock, blues, folk, Americana, and country music.
Inside the BergenPAC auditorium, tonight’s opening act, Bones Owens, takes the stage. Backed by Doy Gardner on drums, Owens opens his set with the rockin’ “Get It On” where he sings in his textured and gritty voice, “Been waiting all day long/To get it, to get it, to get it on.”
Following the upbeat country swing tune, “Lightning Strike,” Owens cries, “Well, I hitched a ride/To the other side,” on the heavy metal-inspired “Where I Came From.” The crowd applauds and Bones performs his minor-key rocker, “Keep on Running,” before accompanying his 12/8 ballad, “Just in Case it Rains,” with sparse distorted guitar playing.
“New Jersey, how you feelin’ tonight?” asks Owens prior to crooning, “My daddy told me when I was a boy/‘This world will try to rob you of your joy,’” on the swamp-rocking “Keep It Close,” prior to following up with the slow and steamy rocker, “White Lines.”
Gardner’s steady drum beat introduces the funky rocker, “Country Man,” where Bones croons in his electronically-distorted vocal, “Don’t ever put it down/I’m a country man,” and cries, “Tell me how to get my mind off of you,” over an ascending guitar line on “Tell Me.”
After announcing, “Thank you for supporting live music!” Owens presents “Rambler,” a hard rocker with a hip-hop feel before concluding tonight’s set with the straight-ahead rock tune, “‘Bout Time,” where his performance elicits a standing ovation from the crowd.
Following a short intermission, concertgoers stand and cheer as the members of Blackberry Smoke — lead vocalist/guitarist Charlie Starr, guitarists Benji Shanks and Paul Jackson, keyboardist Brandon Still, bassist Richard Turner, and drummer Kent Aberle — take the stage.
Opening with “Fire in the Hole,” Starr sings in his soulful smoky voice, “Show me something real/I can hold it in the palm of my hand,” on this slow Southern rocker which features a Brandon Still electric piano solo followed by the sound of multiple screaming electric guitars.
Segueing into the country-rocker, “Six Ways to Sunday,” Starr cries, “I’m gonna love you six ways to Sunday,” as music lovers nod their heads in time to the infectious rhythm.
“How ya doin’ everybody?” asks Starr, and the crowd cheers as he and the band power into the appealing country-rocker, “Hammer and the Nail,” where concertgoers happily sing along on the tune’s potent “Sometimes you’re the hammer/Sometimes you’re the nail” message.
Starr and Co. follow up with “Rock and Roll Again,” where the crowd claps along as Starr sings, “You know she made me rock and roll again/Put the swagger in my soul again,” on this rollicking old-time rock tune.
Music lovers stand and dance as Starr wails out a slide guitar solo on the rockin’ “Good One Comin’ On” before singing along with Starr on the funky swamp-rocker, “Like I Am,” as he cries, “I ain’t changin’, I’m a stubborn man/Can you love me like I am?”
Starr asks, “You feel like boogieing tonight?” and invites the crowd to echo-sing with him on the “Hey, yeah (hey, yeah)/Hey, oh (hey, oh)” intro to “Hey Delilah,” before the band chimes singing together on the zydeco-inspired tune’s snappy “Hey Delilah, you got the power over me/All bound up in your shackles and chains/And I ain’t even tryna get free” refrain.
Music lovers cheer and Starr exclaims, “Let’s boogie like it was yesterday!” as music lovers stand and dance for the appealing rocker, “Like It Was Yesterday,” where Benji Shanks’ and Paul Jackson’s guitars scream as they play together.
After Starr solos on the hard-rocking “Crimson Moon,” Starr and Jackson sing together, “Let’s all say what we came to say/Ain’t enough time for the games we play,” on the funky rocker, “Dig a Hole.”
Music lovers cheer when they recognize the extended mystical introduction to “Sleeping Dogs,” a rhythmic rock song which has the crowd dancing as Brandon Stills’ organ flares and Starr slays a guitar solo.
After segueing into Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Midnight Special,” Starr and Co. seamlessly segue back into “Sleeping Dogs” to enthusiastic whistles, hoots, hollers, and applause.
Starr introduces his bandmates before playing “Azelea,” an appealing folk tune which features Benji Shanks on mandolin, Paul Jackson on acoustic guitar, and Kent Aberle keeping time on the drums.
Still’s barrelhouse piano introduces “Everybody Knows She’s Mine,” a rhythmic number with a zydeco feel, where Starr and Jackson simultaneously pick their guitars before the crowd finishes the song by singing the “Everybody knows she’s mine” coda.
“Man, what an adventurous Wednesday night we’re having!” exclaims Starr as he and the band flutter into “The Whippoorwill” where Starr, Shanks, and Jackson play guitars in harmony on this slow, minor key rocker.
Starr jokes, “Here we are another year older, another year wiser — some of us!” before asking, “You feel like singing?” and the crowd joins him in chanting, “I’m feeling fine, just fine as wine,” on the chorus of the group’s old-time country sing-along song, “Ain’t Got the Blues.”
A fan cries out, “We love you, Charlie!” and Starr responds with a rockin’ guitar intro to the bluesy swamp rocker, “Whatcha Know Good.” Music lovers dance in the aisles on this number as Shanks is featured on slide guitar and Stills contributes a bluesy Wurlitzer electric piano solo while Richard Turner holds down the bottom on bass and Starr plays maracas.
When a fan calls out a request for “Margaritaville,” Starr responds, “Holy sh*t, I wish I knew every word!” before he and the band render an impromptu snippet of the Jimmy Buffett song. They follow up by galloping into “One Horse Town,” where Starr and the audience sing, “If I didn’t think that it would shut the whole place down/I’d ride my pony right out of this one horse town,” on this compelling folk rocker.
The crowd cheers and Starr announces, “Thank you all for coming out and hanging out with us on a beautiful Wednesday night! We’ve been doing this a long time with you guys — 25 years — so this one’s for you,” as he and the band rocket into their final number, “Freedom Song.” On this country-tinged rock tune, fans sing, “Tune the world out, turn the radio up/Sing along to my freedom song,” prior to responding with a standing ovation.
The musicians exit the stage but soon return for an encore of Bad Company’s “Run with the Pack” where Starr belts out, “I’m never looking back!” and Shanks, Jackson, and Starr make their guitars wail in harmony on this straight-ahead rocker.
Music lovers cheer and applaud and Starr jokes, “Yeah, that’s the first time we ever played that one!” before he and the band wrap up tonight’s show with a powerful rendition of their appealing Southern rock tune, “Ain’t Much Left of Me.”
After an extended jam where they segue into Van Halen’s “Take Your Whiskey Home,” Starr and Co. seamlessly return to “Ain’t Much Left of Me” where the crowd enthusiastically sings along with Starr as he cries, “I’ve been knocked down, drug out and left for dead/Barely held together by a few old threads/And I’m still here, there ain’t much left to see/I am still holding on but there ain’t much left of me.”
As concertgoers stand and cheer, Starr exclaims, “God bless you, everybody!” as he and Blackberry Smoke take a final bow before exiting the stage, leaving the crowd ready to rock and roll again.
To learn more about Blackberry Smoke, please go to blackberrysmoke.com. For info on upcoming concerts at BergenPAC — including Welcome Back My Friends: An Evening with Emerson, Lake and Palmer on September 18, Styx on September 25, and Blues Traveler on October 8 — please go to bergenpac.org.
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