Dave Matthews Concert

What can I say? Every time I see Dave play(this was the second time, first being with the band right before "where are you going" was released, which was before "busted stuff" was released...so it had been a while), it is as if he want's to put the best set list ever in. You can check it out at this site. For the first time, I saw Tim Reynolds perform. I was in complete awe. I didn't know that both hands could work so well and so fast with eachother while producing sound that is incredibly unique. Our seats were high up on the left side of the stage, but with large LCD screens, we could see everything that happened relatively clearly. The songs they played were so incredible, both in their selection and quality of performance, it is nearly indescribeble(thats why I have this blog. so i can describe it). I also learned something very interesting about Tim's playing style. He uses a slide a lot, which wasn't what I would have expected. Nonetheless, a great set. Then the friends came on.
Each of the musicians that came on were amazingly talented in their own right, yet bringing them together was awesome. They almost played everything on Some Devil. But they played awesome covers, such as "Tell Me Something Good". And that was just the concert.:-) The encore was amazing(im running out of adjectives here). It was just dave and trey(from phish) to start out. Their reditions of Three little birds, everyday, and bathtub gin were nothing completely special, but everyone in the crowd was singing with them, making them what they were. One of the greater moments of the concert was when Dave played the intro for Everyday and the crowd was singing "Honey honey, come and dance with me..." He could have just played that riff for hours and I'm sure we all would have been content singing along with the solo guitar. Then the band came back on and did a post-Lillywhite version of "Sweet Up And Down" which was actually quite good. Props to Stephen Harris on that, but Steve: you got nothin on Butch Taylor when it comes to the keys.
The part of the concert that was the most interesting for me was how every person there came with their own baggage, for their own reasons, with their own friends(if they were with people). For example, I was with my friend Ben. We've been dave fans for about 7 years now, and so for us this was intense. It was his first Dave concert. The guy across the row from us smoked 4 joints through-out the concert, wasnt with anyone, but was throughly enjoying the music in his condition. A few rows down, a group of four guys were sharing joints, just having a good time out with a good reason to get high. Yet, not everyone smoked up. The woman next to us was alone, and was clapping along to nearly every song. The unfortunate thing is that she had a horrible sense of rhythm. But to her, it didnt matter. She was enjoying herself and the music. It's amazing to me that one artist can pull such a range of emotions and crowds. While everyone came with their own pasts, the music was universal. And that is why I had an amazing time at the Dave Matthews Concert.