The Allman Brothers Band are celebrating Record Store Day with the limited release of one of their notable live performances.
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On April 22, the Southern rock band will release Syria Mosque: Pittsburgh, PA January 17, 1971, on vinyl. The live audio was captured during the band’s first show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the historic Syria Mosque, which was built in 1911 as a shrine to the Freemasonry group known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. The sound on the album was recorded directly from the soundboard used that night and has been restored and remastered.
The album features original band members Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe. The set list includes classic ABB songs “Midnight Rider,” “Statesboro Blues,” “Trouble No More,” “You Don’t Love Me,” and “Whipping Post.” The record is pressed on “Pittsburgh Steel Grey” vinyl. Only 10,000 units of the vinyl edition will be sold.
“Every Allman Brothers Band live performance is special and unique,” a press release states. “Renowned for their spontaneous improvisation, no two shows are ever the same; each captures a pivotal period in the band’s history and holds a story just waiting to be told.”
ABB made their Syria Mosque debut two months before they recorded their first live album, At Fillmore East, which became their breakthrough and peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200. ABB returned to Syria Mosque on October 15, 1971, in what would be one of Duane Allman’s final performances before he died in a motorcycle accident on October 29.
Syria Mosque was originally released on CD and to digital platforms in October 2022. It serves as the first official recording of the live set that had been circulating among the ABB fanbase for decades via cassette tapes and bootleg recordings.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
