Watch The Black Crowes Perform ‘Wanting & Waiting’ & Recall Getting Fired From ZZ Top Tour On ‘Fallon’

The Black Crowes swung by 30 Rock on Monday for an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Frontman Chris Robinson sat for an interview before the band played “Wanting & Waiting” off their recently released album, Happiness Bastards.

Happiness Bastards marks The Black Crowes’ first album of new material in 15 years. Chris Robinson’s chat with host Jimmy Fallon started with discussion of the LP’s title. The vocalist explained he took the title from a book penned by beat generation writer Kirby Doyle. “We’re in a very happy place but we don’t want to forget about the bastard part of it,” Chris added of the meaning behind the band’s usage of the phrase.

Jimmy Fallon has long been a Black Crowes devotee and showed off a packet he received in the mail from the early ’90s as a member of the band’s fan club. Fallon brought out how the Crowes were thrown off a tour opening for legendary rock band ZZ Top. “We were fired,” Robinson recalled and noted “it worked it our favor.” Chris he took aim at Miller Beer, a sponsor of ZZ Top, when the tour hit the Crowes’ hometown of Atlanta. “If you keep it up we’re going to throw you off the tour,” ZZ Top’s reps told Chris Robinson.

The Black Crowes were being profiled by Rolling Stone at the time. Chris revealed they manipulated the situation as he waited until the second night in Atlata when Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke was in attendance before railing against Miller Beer again. “It solidified our bastards moniker,” Chris Robinson noted. He went on to discuss the cover of Happiness Bastards, which was painted by his wife.

The bombastic “Wanting & Waiting” picks up where The Black Crowes left off before a lengthy breakup that lasted from 2014 through 2019. Watch the performance and interview from last night’s Fallon below:

The Black Crowes kick off an extensive tour on April 2 in Nashville.