The L.
6th Row Centers Tonight's review is brought to you from the 6th row, center... Wow. There is so much to say =) (couldn't resist), that I don't even know where to begin. First off, we again missed most of Los Lobos. We got to our seats, and jammed out to Soul Coughing's Irresistible Bliss CD, randomly handing out Blow-Pops and newsletters until the band came on. We were busy checking out the stage set-up before the show started, and we did count 7 lizards on Stefan's amps. At the beginning of the encore, there were 8. (More on this later). Okay, we'll get to the song comments first, and then onto general comments, just like last night's review. Seek Up: Heather and Marc called it; Ricky wished it. As Debbie says, "this is one bad ass song." It was loooooong. Remember, I (Christine) don't own a watch, but we think it was about 15 minutes long, at least. Damn fine jamming by Roi. Dave did a little dance, and his voice was just as crisp as last night. At this point, I noticed that Stefan was wearing a new shirt. (Why do I know this? Well, we could see the creases in his shirt where it had been folded.) =) During the Roi jam, it was incredible to watch Boyd's face -- he had the wildest expressions going -- you (we) could tell that he was just so into the music. Later, while Boyd was doing his thing, it was time for Roi to groove, and he did -- just stood on the side and boogied down. I love the fact that each of the guys really appreciates the other members, and that it's so apparent. After this song, we had the obligatory, "I love you, Dave!" shout. Dave nodded and smirked. At this point, we decided that we are going to use the power of our seats to get what we want. So, on the count of three, 8 voices hollered, "GRANNY!" Dave smiled and shook his head. The band strummed for a few seconds, and hopes were high. Then, Dave walks up to the mic, and says, "this song is *not* called Granny. It's called Lie In Our Graves," and looked right at us. Doh. Lie In Our Graves: Dave did his "little guitar thing," according to Matt. Really solid performance, nothing all that spectacular. This was the only night of our three shows that Dave *didn't* sing, "And then we dance away." Dancing Nancies: "Could I have been a millionaire somewhere?" Boyd had a sick jam in this. Lighting for this song was phenomenal. Great song to hear live with our little group of wackos, and especially when it's followed by Warehouse. After this one, Dave shakes his hand out again. Warehouse: Love the stop-time intro. Stefan's bass roll in this is just insane. I get chills every time I hear it. Again, lights were great -- red at the beginning, white at the end. Granny: It's all us. =) Sure, people over on the left had a sign, but *we* were the ones to get the band's attention. Boom-ba-da-boom-ba-da-boom-ba-da! What more can I say about this song, except for, "Ron...too bad you missed it!"? How cool is this one?? After Granny, a couple people in the crowd (the ones with the sign?) threw a bunch of cigars up on the stage (at Dave). He picked them up, and said, "I'll hand (hollow?) these out a little bit later." #41: Nice lighting, again. Boyd had to get a new violin for this one. Roi and Carter go crazy together! Great jam. Cool segue into Say Goodbye -- Dave does this little strumming kind of thing, which we think could be so that Roi can take a breather from #41, get a drink, and grab his flute. Regardless of what it is, or why it's played, it's groovy. Say Goodbye: Crowd goes nuts to hear Carter's solo, and rightly so. He is a madman. Just wild. Dave does a little dance at the back, near the drum kit, while Carter jams. Nice lyric changes in this one. At the start of this song, Stefan picked a cigar up off the stage, and put it on his amp. Then, he turned around and tightened his belt -- I guess his pants were falling down. =) Roi chuckled. The new backdrop was beautiful in this. Minarets: As Heather says, "It rocked my world." Grooving mouth sounds intro, and *really* long, I thought. Then again, I don't have a watch. =) We were damn stoked to hear this, and my only regret was that Jason missed it. This song is so incredible, and that end jamming/wailing thing rocks. The Minarets-->Typical 1-2 punch is fiiiiiine. Typical: Stefan had to fix his pants again at the beginning of this one. =) Roi had a great slow jam, and as the lights and stars came up, the crowd went wild. During Roi's flute jam, Dave and Stefan turned to watch him, and grooved with the rest of us. We did get that "new" outro thing where Boyd's plucking, and Roi's playing the flute -- I personally don't really think it fits with the mood of the song, though. I do like it, just not where it is. I think it's almost too "bouncy" for Typical. This was a loooong version, and at the end, when they rocked into that closing full band jam, and Dave's wailing, the crowd was cr-azy. After this one, Dave points back at Carter, and does a goofy little dance. Stefan does a little bass roll, and Dave says, "Chicago, y'all are so f*cking good to us." Then, he walks back to Carter and talks some more. I look over at Roi, and he's got his shades off!! =) Dave walks back to the mic, and... BOWA: Could we possibly be so lucky as to hear this song two nights in a row?? The answer, of course, is yes. =) Again, I was upset that my favorite pal wasn't here, but hey -- I was jamming out with my buddies, and I was in the 6th row. I mean really -- I could have been all alone and still had a great time in those seats. =) Stefan had a groove thing on during this. I love that little dance he has. Roi was just as sick on this song tonight as he was the night before. Great crowd reaction to this one, and the lighting was wild. At the end of this one, Dave gave us all a big ol' vertical leap, and then climbed up the front of Carter's drum kit (okay, not on the drums themselves, but on whatever the hell is in front of them). Two Step: Crowd reaction upon hearing Boyd's plucking was insane! They love this one, and so do we. =) Stefan! He is the man. He was grooving up a storm this whole song. Carter's drums were so loud and powerful at the end of this, that I could feel them change the pace of my heartbeat. I thought to myself, "Damn. Don't let me die from a heart attack until the encore is over!" This was a great version tonight, and the end was packed chock full of kick ass jamming and wailing. Crash: Crowd goes crazy. I thought they were excited to hear Two Step! Dang. =) This girl in front of Emily decided to get up on her chair, and show the boys exactly how much she loves this song. She was going to town, till Matt poked her shoulder, and gave her that stern, fatherly "I don't think so" look, and made the universal "negatory" sign with his hand. She got down after that. The lighters came out in full effect. It really is kind of cool to turn around, and look at the crowd during this one. They're just so into it. Billies: Short intro, and wild lights. Crowd goes even wackier. Sure, it's a fun song. It isn't one of my favorites, but the guys always look like they're having so much fun playing it. Stefan was groovin' again, and Roi was nodding and smiling during Boyd's frenzied jam. We got another Davejump at the end of this one. SMTS-->Too Much: What can I say about these? Solid versions, but really, the only reason that I can stand them is beacuse the Little Baby Jam is so wild. Stefan and Roi rock the house on this. "Oh damn, traffic jam..." Heh. Any of you who took I-80 East to the show know just how true that was! Another Davejump. The lights go down, indicating the end of the set. We get excited for the encore. This was a damn long break, but it suited us just fine, 'cause we were plotting. We had the obligatory, "We want Dave!" shouts, to which we obligatorily (?) added, "Boyd!", "Stefan!", "Roi", and "Carter!" We look to our left, and see the crowd chanting. We look to our right, and see security. We sigh. Then, a break in the security yields our perfect moment to us. One of us (who shall remain nameless in order to protect him from prosecution) =), took hold of a lizard I had bought, wound back, and shot that sucker right up on stage, just as the guys were coming out. A roadie spied it, pointed it out to our man Stefan (whatever happened to his hair?!), and he picked it up, smiled, and put it on his amps, right on top of a much bigger lizard's head. I think that just about made our collective night. Oh yeah...then, we heard LMP (or whatever) again. =) Damn fine song. I think that between the three shows I've seen, I managed to write down all of the lyrics. (Well, all of the lyrics that stay put, anyway.) =) Reading them over, all I can say is, "Wow." Ants: Heh. As I said, you can't hate it. This is the perfect song to close a show with, IMO. It's so happy and upbeat (yes it is, even if the ending words are, "lights down we up and die."), and everyone leaves the show with smiles. Dave says, That's Mr. Boyd Tinsley, Mr. LeRoi Moore, Mr. Stefan Lessard, Mr. Carter Beauford," points to himself and says, "Mr. Dave, and we thank you very much." Then, they rocked us all. Can you tell that we liked this show? I hope so. Phenomenal energy, and pretty good crowd, too. We got the girls in front of us to yell, "36!!" with us, and they didn't even know what the hell it was. I can dig it. Remember how I mentioned the lighting of the Milwaukee show? Well, it was *nothing* compared to tonight. Let me rephrase that -- it was the same thing, but tonight, it was actually dark. Milwaukee started at 6:30, so it was still fairly light throughout a good portion of the show. Tonight, however, started at the regular 7:30 time, so the lights were in full effect. Excellent job.

Heather P.
oh man...this was my sixth dmb show, and how ironic that i was sitting in the sixth row! this up-close-and-personal view of the show may distort and/or improve my actual opinion of the show in general. just a warning. :) standing out in the lobby during los lobos, matt "doily boy" camp asked us all what we thought would open the show...seek up was my guess, and right on the money. a fifteen minute seek up was the best opener by far of the three shows that i attended (milwaukee, chicago, indianapolis). each of the guys got their share of solo time and roi really ripped it up. we used the blank "air-time" between songs to share with the band our desire to hear granny. okay, fine, we screamed it at the top of our lungs. i think someone had a sign also, and before the next song he said, "this song is not granny. this song is lie in our graves." either way, we were excited that he even said the word granny. :) lie in our graves is a staple song for this tour...but no matter how many times i hear it, it simply gets better and better. there was no 'til we dance away' this time, kind of a bummer, but still a great song. dancing nancies. need i say more? okay, i'll say a little more. i enjoy nancies when dave personalizes it by adding a city, or at least saying "could i have been your little sister". in chicago, it was straight from the album with no ad-libbed lines. it didn't really matter. the crowd was jammin' so hard that they probably wouldn't have noticed if dave was singing in spanish. ("could i have been...a sacapunta?") warehouse. i can't believe they played warehouse. left me speechless...then to raise my happiness level to even higher extremes, guess what they did next? oh...dave came out and mumbled "this song is called granny." hi. we screamed so loud my dad back in st. louis heard me. the whole place jumping and singing "love...baby!" some of the crowd didn't know the song, but dave's positively crisp singing had to have left a good impression on them. even leroi was joining in on the "love...baby!", something i had never seen him do before. this was the absolute high point of the chicago show for me. #41 was right-on. #41, say goodbye seemed to gel together for me. i guess the high from granny hadn't worn off, and my attention level for these songs just wasn't very high. sorry. dave wailed on minarets and boyd seemed to be in his own little world on his solos...luckily, his little world was very well synchronized with the concert on stage. no really, he seemed to be concentrating so hard that he was in another zone. absolutely great. typical situation was one song i really didn't expect to hear. it quieted down the crowd a bit. it was short but sweet and led into another unexpected (for me) song... best of what's around. wow. fantastic work by all five on this one. i love watching dave and carter play around on stage, and during this song especially. two step rocked. stefan was really jammin' hard, his head bobbing back and forth...dancing and really looking like he was enjoying himself. crash into me, tripping billies, so much to say --> little baby jam --> too much...these were all songs that i expected to hear. unfortunately, the crowd sang pretty loudly over these songs, and made them less enjoyable for me. (simply because it was hard to hear dave) on crash into me the star-like lights on the background added a particularly nice touch, making the audience "ooh" and "ahh" as though they were in a pillsury poppin' fresh dough commercial. very cool. the little baby jam (or has anyone seen the bridge? jam) was an extended-dance-hall-esque mix that allowed stefan and roi to really get down with their bad selves. it rocked pretty hard. the band left after the usual radio songs, and dave, carter and stefan came back with a new song weight of the world/leave me praying/untitled that blows my mind. i finally began to listen to the lyrics at this show, and i never cease to be amazed by dave's ability to write such moving lyrics. (i.e. "and so we say to these our new neighbors/strangers...you must move on or we will bury you") i absolutely love this new song. last song of the encore was ants. this song is a great closer, although i'm getting sort of tired of it, but the new beats that carter has added to the end livens it up a bit... overall, the best show i've seen. ever. (of course, like i said...the seats have a lot to do with it...) and what makes it even cooler is that chris oberlin managed to toss up christine's lizard...and stefan got it and put it on his amp. man...that was absolutely sweet. i'm done now...i swear.

Tim L.
WOW! This has to be one of the best shows I've been too. That could been because I had 7th row tickets and I got to meet Dave and get his autograph. The night was very good. First, Los Lobos was very good, I really didn't know what to expect from them because I have only heard a little of them. Second, the crowd was great, but it was full of teeny Bopers. There was also a lot of 40-something people there, suprising, I really didn't care as long as they didn't sit down for songs they didn't know. I really didn't see a lot people sitting down though, everybody was pretty much in a good mood. Finally, the band was in an all around good mood. Before B.O.W.A Dave and Carter were teasing each other on how they were going to start. Leroi looked like was in a good mood, but I don't think he was in his prime. Boyd and Stephan were great, Stephan has a shaved head, when did that happen? Anyway, the setlist was unbeleivable. Seek up was a great opener. Lie In our Graves was very good, a nice little jam in there. Nancies -> Warehouse was great. Nancies was solid and when it played into Warehouse it was unreal. Granny!! Was never expecting this, what a nice suprise. #41-> Say Goodbye. This was very good with the drum solo in between. MInarets -> Typical was very good especially with the minarets rap at the beginning and typical situation was very solid. B.O.W.A was very good sort of unexpecting. Two step and Crash were very solid again, and there was an attempt to do the lighters, but I think they all ran out. Billies was great, but I was hoping for a longer Nature intro, its one of my favorites. So Much to Say-> Too Much was great I really like the bridge. Leave Me this was really goo and I liked the fact that everyone was like what the hell is this? Is this off of Crash? But I think this will be the next Crash Into Me off of their next album. Ants a great ending with that new jam in the middle. The jam was very good. If you can't tell, the night was awesome. There wasn't one mistake or anything. Flawless.

Patrick V.
Tinley Park most certainly has to be one of the best DMB performances ever. From the moment Seek Up started to the last note of Ants Marching it was incredible. They jammed out on Seek Up for 10 min before they ever started to sing. The intro to Warehouse was great along with everything else. You can't get a better venue to watch Dave in then The World Music Theatre. It was absolutely rockin. It was really good to hear Granny even though majority of the crowd sat down for it. They had a new intro to #41 that really threw me off. Leroi blew on the sax like nothing that has ever been heard before. Boyd almost fell over during Dancing Nancies because he was going to town on the violin. Dave sounded great and Carter had an awesome intro to Say Goodbye that made the theatre go "crazy". Two Step had to have been the best song just because of that awesome intro. There were two big screens at the theatre that allowed everyone to see the band close up. Dave puts alot of emotion into his songs and you could see it in his face. That is what makes them the best band in the country. During Crash and Say Goodbye the wall behind the band became all lit up with stars and pink lights. It was so perfect. I can bet that of the 28,000 Dave fans there no one went home disappointed. The best band in the entire country period.

Adam W.
The first of my back to back DMB shows was so suberb that I can't name anything that went wrong. The show was the best I've seen. (which in true is not many shows) The setlist and quality was something that I could not even dream better. Here are just a few of the many highlights of the show for me. Seek Up: I told my friends before the show started was that all I asked for was to hear Seek Up in person. That wish came true the very first song (which is good because I know that Seek Up is usually an opener). Dave didn't scream at the end, but there was a great solo by Boyd to make up for it. Granny: I knew they played this song only once before this tour, so I wasn't expecting to be so lucky. The song was one of the best versions I have heard. The ending was terrific between the LOVE's and BABY's in that Dave would do his tongue flipping and odd yet outstanding noises. #41 and Say Goodbye: I could really tell that this was one of the band's better show by how Dave could hit the high notes in #41 with ease and thensome. As for Say Goodbye, it is the first time I have heard it in person. This song and Granny, in my opinion, made up the best songs of the night. Best of What's Around: Another favorite of mine that I had yet to hear in concert was BOWA. Even though the crowd was really into the show for quite awhile, they really started dancing and singing at this point. The uh huh hey la's of this song blow my mind. Of course it does every time I hear them. Leave Me Praying: Other than the Dave and Tim tapes, this the first time I have heard this song. Stefan came out and made the place rumble with a loud bass riff in the beginning. The song was sooooo much better than I remember it on tape with Tim. The addition of bass and drums helped it do that. Ants Marching: What is a DMB concert without this song? The part where Dave lets the crowd song makes the whole concert. This was the first time I ever heard a long violin part by Boyd at the end of the song. It is just great to look around you at people who are loving Dave's music at this point, and at Dave and the band loving what they are providing. All in all, I believe this is a rarity to see them THIS good. The band was on, Dave was on thoughout the show, and the setlist was unbelieveable. I probably won't submit a review for Deer Creek, but Tinley Park kicked its ass, in my opinion. You could tell Dave and crew were really trying to make this a night to remember, and they did!