Jbeau L.
Arrived at Riverbend about 4:00pm, in hopes of hearing soundcheck. To our delight, just as we stepped out of the car, the sounds of a band noodling around onstage met our ears. Then, several minutes later, once we had occupied a position along the fence surrounding the venue, we witnessed a tour first ... Granny in the soundcheck. Hopes for the night quickly rose. Granny was played, then nothing was heard for a good 15 minutes. Then, out of the summer heat rose Recently. It came and went, fears of Water/Wine dashed, and the soundcheck was complete. Los Lobos discussion will be Part II. Over three hours later, DMB took the stage (8:10 pm) ... BOWA: A truly wonderful opener. As they would later in the night, the boys seemed to hold back, preferring a more mellow groove to a hard-hitting jam. It worked. Each was given his time to shine. TSTJL: "I have a little sister, her name is Jane ..." One of the best I have ever heard. The reason: improvisation. Following the "Hey!" line at the opening of the song, David passed up at least 5-6 chances to break into the following "would you like to play ..." line. Instead, the boys chose to jam. Two Step: Interesting improvised Dave-mumblings in their appropriate spots. Highlight: a return of the now-rarely-seen Boyd plucking outro. It didn't last long, but while it did it shined. Very tight version. They were catching fire. Recently: As always, given away by David's pre-song tuning-up. Once again, extremely tight. Emotional scat/mumbling towards the conclusion of the jam. No intros/outros. Granny: A wonderful return, not to mention our second version of the day. Once again, experimentation abounded. Improvised lyrics all around. The faster jam was initiated by emotional Dave-crying. #41: A rather slow, groovy jam. I have heard better, but it nonetheless sounded different. I liked it. --> Say Goodbye: The segue works always. David and Carter combined for the beginning of the segue, then Carter was permitted his solo. Once into Say Goodbye, Crash-lyrics sing-alongs would not be permitted. More improvisation. Emotional again. LIOG: Boyd took center stage, making his way to David's mic stand in the middle of the jam. Nice. Tripping Billies: In a word, hot. The boys continued their tightness. Boyd found a zone, and the others let him run with it. Emotional, upbeat, and fun. Crash Into Me: The radio fan pleaser; received the most (and highest-pitch) appreciation. The venue actually had people selling roses in the aisles, and this was the reason. Ants Marching: Nowhere near the end of the show. Improvisation returns. Late in the song, Carter was simply providing a single snare-beat in time as Boyd jammed away. David, once again recognizing Boyd's zone, signalled to Carter (by playing an air-violin) to simply continue his backing beat, and not to proceed to the song's concluding jam. Not only did Carter do this, but in his brilliance added several one-two beats to his singles. Boyd was given at least an extra minute of nearly-solo jamming. Impressive. Minarets: Yes! Extended Dave scat-jam with muted guitar strumming intro. The end of the song/jam brought more improvised lyrics from Mr. Matthews. I could make out "I will take the time to love you, if you place your hand in my hand ..." --> Typical Situation: This song is always beautiful. The jam was very remiscent of the NYE jam with Bela. Reached a definite climax, led by guitar/violin/bass plucking and Carter. SMTS: Funny yet tight. Carter fucked up a beat in the midst of the song, throwing David's lyrical pattern completely off course. The rest of the song saw David constantly looking back, making faces at, and playfully cussing Carter out. --> Anyone Seen the Bridge?: It may be getting plenty of play, but I've only heard it once this summer, and it was different from back in October. I liked it. Nice job of passing the lead from Stefan -> David -> LeRoi with Carter and Boyd backing. Lasted 1.5 minutes. --> Too Much. Very energetic, extended at the end since it was the closer. "... eat up your children ..." We knew the SMTS->ASTB->Too Much segue was coming as the closer, but it still rocked. Encore: New One (Leave Me Praying): David, Carter, and Stefan only. Simply one of the most brilliant lyrical and musical masterpieces in a long while. I will post the Cincinnati lyrics as Part III of the review. Truly riveting and emotional. Carter's rolls added a great deal. David's concluding cries brought chills to the spine. I love this song. Drive In, Drive Out: Great energetic, powerful choice of a closer. As with the theme of the night, the closer included improvisation ... "this fucking boy won't go ..." "well, why should we be worried? Why don't we make up a few of our own gods, and have a little tea party of our own?" "emptiness sounds so good ... once we accept we're so full of shit as I think we should." end of show: 10:25 pm Experimentation, improvisation, groovy jamming, the boys talking about modifications between songs: I loved it. The best show I have seen to date.

Scott M.
Show was cool it was good to see the boys again. Not to big of a change from last year but definitely better. Crowd was a typial DMB crowd now a days only sing the songs they hear on the radio which is cool and all but i just had to say loved granny the bridge is getting old but still sounds good i like leroi's part in it now. I wanted to hear For the Beauty of Wynona since i have yet to hear them do it but oh well im sure they will do it one of the nights at red rocks when i go Wasnt to happy with weight of the world (by the way why do u call it leave me praying now?) wish it was still the same way he did it when it was done with timmy in 96. the ending however is very good and needs to stay in the song but he need to go back the the lyrics he used on the night of 2-19-96 but thats just my opinion.

Nirupa G.
It was an awesome show! I thought the setlist was great! BOWA- I thought it was a great opener, LeRoi was gettin' into it at the end, and Dave sang some extra verses near the end too STJL- also great to hear, I especially like the instrumental part after the first few lines Two Step- right at the beginning, Dave and Boyd were standing facing each other, Julie says Boyd's intro was awesome. There was a long jam at the end, and wailing, sounded like Dave was saying "Don't leave me" Recently- I love this one too! Carter did his wood block thing, sounds like horse hooves, Roi was really showing his stuff when they did that 1-2-3-4 beat with jams inbetween. After the 4 beats, the lights went wild for the first time and Dave started dancin'. Granny- I was really, really surprised, and very excited! I didn't expect to hear Granny at all, but it was great. -Davespeak "Summertime, and we're hot as a bastard" #41- After the lyrics were over, Boyd and Roi kind of took turns jamming away. First Boyd, then Roi on the flute, then Roi on the sax, everyone was really having fun. Say Goodbye- Carter did his awesome drum rolls at the beginning. Roi got his flute out again, it was beautiful. Dave said (I mean sang) "I'm quiet spoken, but my soul it roars" and another line I heard was "I will share wine, I will share taste, we'll get high together" -Davespeak "rrrrr, that's what a lion sounds like, " LIOG- Dave was dancing away, his feet were moving all over the place, during the jam, it was mainly all Boyd, his ponytail was swinging wildly, he was bouncing up and down, the mic screeched during the end. After the song was over Dave was pointing to his throat, but all night his voice sounded great Billies- The lights were all programmed, it looked really cool, Boyd and Dave did their thing facing each other, they're feet were all over the place! Crash- the first song that crowd was singing along (loudly) to. They put on the starry night lighting, which was awesome, no dixie chicken Ants - about 12 snare beats from Carter, and Dave pointed to him, and they went into the main riff. Dave put his arms down, kind of like an ape, and did this shuffle thing, it was different than his usual dance. During the jam, Boyd was shakin his head all over, and Carter did this thing where he'd play one beat, then 2, then 1... The lights flashed on the beats, but I noticed they didn't flash twice on the double beats until after a couple times, so there's room for some experimentation -Davespeak "the sun went down, look over there (points), the sun went down" Minarets -ahh, the muted strumming, plus the rap, it was awesome. dave added a verse at the beginning, and the end. At the end, the only line I could make out was "I would take the time to love you, leave (lead?) your hands in mine" Typical- There was an added verse to the beginning of this also. The jam at the end was amazing, and looong. Roi was on the flute, and Boyd kept it together by repeating the 3 notes that are usually at the end of Typical -Davespeak -the greenpeace plug. .."so we can have clean air, clean land to dance on, and clean oceans to swim in" then the thing about heaven, then he says "unless there is no heaven, then it's all a lie" SMTS- Dave goofed on one of the lines, but it's all fine. the baby jam was great, Stefan and Roi were really groovin' Too Much- said "I'm gonna eat up your children" Dave changed guitars right in the middle of the song LMP- just Dave, Stefan, and Carter. it sounded great, I thought it was pretty different form the 96 D&T versions, not just the lyrics, but the music too, probably since there's no Tim. The chorus was "This we say to our new neighbors, you have to move on, or we'll bury you" Dave did this sorta humming thing at the end, Carter had some really nice drum rolls towards the end DIDO- it seemed dave didn't know what to say when it came to part about making up gods. He said "Why should we be worried? We'll make up our (short pause), we'll make a few of our own gods, and have a tea party of our own"

Brad W.
I think Dave described the mood best -- "Summertime, and we're hot as a bastard." The show kicked ass despite the 90 degree heat. The boys were in good form, and performed really well. Everything was typical, Dave had a slight goof on SMTS, but that's ok, We can forgive him! The volume was much too low, I like it live and loud. I don't care for "Too Much" as the closer, "Ants Marching" is much better to end the set. I'm going to see them tomorrow in Columbus, so hopefully I will get to hear Nancies and a few other tunes I missed. Other than the volume, the show was great! As Always!!!

Jason C.
I thought the show was pretty good. Not the best DMB show I've seen. I think what made this one not so good was the crowd. The crowd was full of preps and people that were there just to be cool. Standing not far from me was the defensive lineman from my school with his pantera shirt on. Threatening fights and shouting obsceneties. But the ocasional hippy was a sight for sore eyes. The show itself was great. This was the first time I saw "The Best of What's Around" live. And "Leave Me Praying" left me (once again) speachless. Dave even did his part for humankind by discussing the importance of GreenPeace and the trivial existance of Heaven. I didn't really like how "Say Goodbye" followed #41, only because its like that on the Cd and that's how I hear it 24-7. But it was still Awesome.

Kyle S.
This was my first DMB concert and I wasn't disappointed. I bought "Crash", liked it, and I've been hooked since. And I don't care about what other people say about that "he should play more older material" because I thought he played a perfect blend of old and new. The highlights for me: Recently- One of my favorites and since they don't play it too often it's a treat. I also bought the single at the concert. Granny- I'd never heard it before but instantly liked it. #41 and Say Goodbye- those are two of my favorite songs off "Crash" and I'm glad he played them. Perfect amount of jamming. Well done. Tripping Billies- lots of energy. Great sound even better lights. Crash Into Me- yeah it's new and maybe overplayed on the radio but it sounds great. It's a great song and everyone loves it. So give the people what they want. Typical Situation- went on forever. I actually thought he had stopped and had gone into another song but he came back and sang more. It was great. SMTS- Yes, Dave left out "And my Heaven is a nice house in the sky . . ." the second time around but he covered well. He looked back at the other members of the band, smiled, and just keet on going. It's one of my favorite songs, although overplayed on the radio. Too Much- the "I'm gonna eat up your children" line was cool. DIDO- a great way to close a show. The jamming at the end is so cool. Dave rules. You must go see the show no matter how many times you've been. It's great.

Dave S.
I travelled nine hours from Toronto to watch my first DMB show!!! Highlights were GRANNY, the Minarets intro, and Leave Me Praying. The great thing about the show was not only that I went to see the band, but that I experienced an event. The crowd was cool and everyone was friendly and comfortable. An event I will never forget, and would do again in a second. I just hope they come to Toronto some time soon!!! Submitted by Andy Weinheimer this is the second dave show that i have seen, and it certyainly won't be my last. the show was so much better than the one i saw in 1996. the choice of "best of what's around" was an excellent one since they didn't play it last year. the only problems with this show were the heat and the fact that they didn't play "nancies." their new song, "leave me praying" was one of the best i've ever heard by dave's clan. i hope to hear it on an upcoming album. dave's band is the greatest, and everyone should go see them.