Brett C.
After having heard or been to the past 3 NYE shows, and having a few bootlegs, I can definitely say this was the best show I've ever seen!!! Bela added so much... Two Step...this was the regular album version with a little improv for the intro and outro, but powerful Tripping Billies...w/ Nature Intro...a little more powerful... Jimi Thing...classic...w/ feeling, Roi and Carter went off for the outro, and then Dave soloed(whatever) for a while in his sweet way with a bunch of slides...it was beautiful Cry Freedom...album version, but nice to hear, quietly powerful DIDO...album version, but nice vocal improvs...extra verses Crash...w/ Bela was awesome, he added a lot...not a lot of vocal stuff from Dave though Seek Up and Lie In Our Graves w/ Bela were incredible...15-20 mins apiece...they jammed everywhere SMTS--Too Much...very nice...they bridged them w/ anyone seen the bridge, which was AWESOME Say Goodbye...awesome intro w/ Carter and Roi (5 mins), but not much vocal change And Now...#41-Ants...HOLY COW...w/ Bela, the Flecktones, and Jeff Coffin...Best #41 ever, better than NYE when they jammed forever...#41 was 30 min timed, then Ants was 15...everyone jammed in both...WOW Leave Me Praying...good new stuff, thought provoking... Dancing Nancies...classic Boyd...

Kirk W.
8:13-8:21 Two Step They played a long and different intro. I think that the difference was some lyrics, but I didn’t write them down and don’t remember, so don’t ask. The lights were in synch from the beginning. Monk was walking around stage to alter some of the levels I guess. Roi kind of stood aloof on the right of the stage. On Boyd’s first pluck of the violin it was very loud, and Boyd kind of cringed. Monk came hobbling over, and gave him a new violin and lowered his levels. Roi comes in late, but then moves off and talks to someone and tests a new sax. Good version with some great jamming. 8:21 Dave thanks BF&FT and mentions that they might come back later. 8:23-8:27 Tripping Billies There was a short intro different from the Crash version, but once they hit the first chord from the Crash version the crowd went nuts. Roi sat out Boyd’s jam. Dave and Boyd began jamming in front of Carter and the crowd went crazy once again. 8:27 Unintelligible Davespeak. "I know you guys on the cool grass are maybe a bit high." 8:28-8:41 Jimi Thing I have written down, "Short intro with words?" I think that they did some little 30 second intro with Dave singing something, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Dave foot dance. Roi does a crazy little jam towards the end. Then Dave and Stefan jam towards the end. 8:41 Davespeak: "Nice day for a mint julip and a big fat one (hand motion to demonstrate a big fat one)." 8:42-8:47 Cry Freedom Surprised (pleasantly of course) to hear this one. Everyone finds a seat or heads to the concessions stands. No one really said anything to me about sitting down so I just kept standing and getting my mini-groove on. No "f*cking mile" just the standard "crooked mile." There wasn’t much of a light show for this, in fact I believe the lighting that was used at the beginning of the song lasted until the end of the song. This leads me to believe that there was some spontaneity in playing this song. 8:47 Davespeak: Standard: "I hope everyone’s feeling all right tonight." 8:48-8:54 DIDO Everyone gets back up (sort of). Not as much of a sing-a-long for this one. A beach ball is thrown on stage, and Boyd swats it to the side with his bow. Dave uses the "tea party" line. I don’t know if this is on Crash or not, but the crowd got loud when he used it. Towards the end of the song, he sung something like: "Now that we’re here, my head is so full of sh*t" (I know that last part is correct). I have written down: nice lights and Roi. 8:54-8:56 Greenpeace Schpiel Something about acid rain causing holes in our heads and that sins within reason would be forgiven for putting a dollar in the bucket. 8:56 Enter Bela 8:57-9:02 Crash Into Me Real loud and lots of Daves in the audience. Starry night background during the chorus. "Hike up your skirt" and "King of the Castle." Nice lights and of course Bela added a nice touch. However, it was still the standard Crash. I really thought they might do the Dixie Chicken outro, but was disappointed. I mainly wanted to see the stunned faces when they added something to this song, that most had never heard. 9:03-9:18 Seek Up Lots of Roi, especially in the intro. Not as much sitting for a song that most of the crowd probably doesn’t know. Dave fumbled through one of the "forget about your reasons.." but then picked it back up on the next line. Boyd got a nice slow jam that I called a groove. Roi stands behind Carter and Stefan. Bela and Boyd "pick" with each other. Dave gets another guitar after the song. 9:19-9:30 LIOG "Being dead and having no regrets" intro. No one knew what song it was when he said that and didn’t go crazy until they started playing. Roi disappears. Crowd goes nuts. This girl that’s next to me is piss drunk and falls down in the aisle beside me. The star background from Crash returns during the "reprise" (when they finish the song). 9:30 Exit Bela 9:31 Davespeak: "If you listen to the radio, you might have heard this one." 9:31-9:36 SMTS I don’t have a lot written down except for "lights, lights, lights" and Dave foot dance. Standard Crash version. 9:36-9:37 Anyone Seen the Bridge? (Lil Baby Jam) Dave Jam and Roi. This part of the SMTS-->Too Much really lets me enjoy the whole thing instead of just cringing when it starts. I love the bridge. 9:37-9:42 Too Much Big, Bright lights. Dave foot dance. "Eat up your children" line. I loved that part. Very much like Crash. 9:43 The band is kind of taking a break and everyone starts pounding on the chair backs. 9:44-9:51 Say Goodbye Carter intro of course is great, and then into Roi on the flute. Dave mixes up some of the lyrics, but of course once he got to the chorus the singers got to show their voices once again. This is the first point in the night that I noticed that someone was pointing one of those laser pointers in Dave’s direction. I only saw it a couple of times for a couple seconds, and Dave didn’t say anything, like he did this spring. I really loved this version of the song. Very powerful, and romantic. 9:51 Enter all of BF&FT 9:53-10:14 #41 Let me begin by saying that this was the best version of this song that I have ever heard. I’ve heard NYE and many D&T shows but this blows them all out of the water. They do the lyrics in a few minutes which are standard, and then begins the jamming. Roi plays both the flute and the sax with a few seconds of Boyd jamming in between. Jeff and Victor stand on the opposite sides of the stage, and trade licks with each other for several minutes. Their jam goes into a frenzy and then smoothes out, and Dave motions towards Carter and Future Man. Then both men take over Jeff and Victor’s jam. It is just beyond words and obvious that the rest of the guys were amazed because they all stood there with only Victor and Stefan doing a little bass line. Everyone on stage just stood with their instruments down grooving to the jam and watching. You must hear this song to realize how great it is. The laser also returned for a short time on the left wall beside the stage. 10:14-10:23 Ants Marching At least 10 snares into the opener. Future Man begins to do some crazy stuff with his syntho-so-d*mn-amazing-instrument. Of course there was the sing-a-long part. Boyd and Bela face-off again and jam off each other. Another Dave foot dance. 10:23 Exit All 10:23 Lighters up 10:25 Bang chairs 10:26 Eneter Dave, Stefan and Carter 10:27-10:34 WOTW/ Leave Me Praying Everyone quiet and sitting. I thought I could be cool and sing along with the lyrics from 2.19.96, but boy was I wrong. The lyrics have changed significantly and there was a little bit of a tone change towards the end which makes the song sound like it was a bit more finished. My impressions of the audience around me were that they were, for the most part, stunned, in conversations, or bored. They did the "This land is your land" part. I must say that I like the original better, but isn't that the way it always is. The lyrics are still just as powerful, but just not in the same light. 10:34 Enter Roi, Boyd 10:35-10:45 Nancies The laser was back again. This time on the right wall and someone with a flashlight began playing a game with the laser and chasing it. Standard intro with no local theme. It sounded like Dave said "33 and so tired" instead of "23". Hmmm...is Dave actually recognizing his age difference, or was that just my mind playing tricks on me? Boyd has his little jam with a cool spiral light on him. Boyd sings some of the background vocals and is very loud. Dave and Boyd circle Carter to jam. Up close shots showed how Boyd was tearing up his bow. This was a solid version with nothing spectacular. My overall show thoughts: I know every time someone sees a show, they say that it’s the best ever. I wouldn’t go that far, but I would say that it’s the best I have ever _seen_. I wish they’d have played BOWA and Warehouse, but maybe some other time. See ya.

Daniel R.
me and my friend jake road tripped for a couple hours down to charlotte to check out dave, and just to open, Let me say that bela fleck and the flecktones are incredible! I was more impressed with Paul McCandless than Jeff Coffin, but they were still awesome. They closed with Sinister Minister, and Vic Wooten was literally throwing around his bass guitar and playing it during his solo. The crowd was generally unnapreciative until then, when they gave him a standing ovation. Also, bela walked into the crowd, and I gave him a big pat on the back. Ok, now for dave: 2 Step: Me and Jake were hoping for OSW, but 2 Step was awesome. Great Dave improv singing part at the end. Billies: Awesome as usual. Short nature intro, the lights went off and the whole place was jamming. Jimi: One of the best I've ever heard. Boyd's solo's were great, and roi and carter were incredible during roi's solo. Dave went off with a great jam after that. Cry Freedom: Completely unexpected, but cool. DIDO: A good version, but I think boyd and roi got out of rythym during the big jam. Oh, well. Crash: Bela came out for this one, and added just a little to make the song great. No dixie outro. I was hoping for that. Seek UP: More Bela. He just added a little bit:perfect. Roi's opening was great. Boyd'd solo was extra long, and ave didn't whale like usual. Great version. LIOG: BELA FLECK!!!!! The crowd was so pumped, and everyone was dancing, and then bela went crazy. SMTS->ASTB->Too Much: ASTB was cool. Roi had a little sax bit in there, I thnk that's new. The songs were album cuts, but the lighting was really cool. Say Goodbye: I've never seen them play it this late in a set. One of my favorite songs. Lot's of alternate lyrics during the 2nd and 3rd verses. 41: W/ Bela, Jeff, and 'Tones. This was the single greatest jam I've ever heard. Everyone had a solo. First was the usual violin->flute->sax, then Jeff Coffin and Victor Wooten, then Bela, Vic, and Jeff, then Future Man and Carter. It blew me away. Ants: I think this is the first time this tour they closed with it. Very cool. It had a new ending with Boyd, Vic, and Bela going off during Boyd's usual solo. Very cool. Leave Me Praying: Very cool. Dave and Carter were great. Nancies: Boyd went off. He was dancing more than I've ever seen him. This is the best dave show I've ever heard, and I was at new years. Unbelievable.