Jason K.
PNP: Great Roi solo into it, such a nice way to start a show. Rapunzel: Good version, really got the crowd into it, would've liked to hear Timmy more though. Roi took over at the end. #41: Oh yeah! One of my favorites, and Dave hasn't been playing it that much, so I was quite pleased. Boyd got into the show early, which was cool. Crash: I don't care how many 12 year olds scream for it, or how many times I hear it on the radio, this is still a beautiful song, and it was really tight tonight. Love the Dixie Chicken outro. Rhyme and Reason: Been to 15 shows and I've never heard it, so it was a treat. Dave REALLY gets into it and thus the crowd got into it, too. Jimi Thing: About 20 minutes long, Boyd had his usual great solos, and Roi's solo was different than I've heard it in the past, and I liked it a lot better. I was praying for Seek Up, but this never disappoints. Stay: Makes me wanna, makes me wanna...STAY! I don't care how cheesy the song is, it just put a huge smile on my face. I love Dave and Carter singing the Stay part together at the end. Crush: Timmy had a great solo and there's not much I can say except that I love this song. Two Step: HELLO! Unbelievable! One of the best versions I've ever heard. The boys came to a pause at one point and a lot of people thought they were done, but they kept going and blew me away. Gotta love Boyd's plucking and Roi's baritone sax at the end. Don't Drink The Water: Standard version, I like it much better live. Bela adds a lot to any song. Minarets: The only disappointment for me. I really wanted to hear The Last Stop and I thought they might go for a Minarets tease into TLS, but it didn't happen. Most of the crowd sat down, but Bela's solo and Dave's wailing at the end really saved it. Typical Situation: Awesome. Bela stole the show on this one with a crazy solo for that lasted awhile. ASTB-->Too Much: Pretty funky that ASTB isn't a bridge between songs anymore. Standard Too Much, but it got the crowd going again, so I can't complain. The best part of the night was seeing the 55 year old dad sitting across the aisle from me getting up and dancing to this. Beautiful. I'll Back You Up: Quite possibly the most beautiful song I've ever heard. For once, everyone pretty much shutup and let Dave sing, and Carter's background vocals almost made me cry. Tripping Billies: For some reason I was hoping for Ants and not Watchtower (cause I hear it ever show to close), but Billies is always welcome. Boyd was one fire to close out the show, as was Carter, who is simply the best at what he does. All in all, I had a great time and thought it was a really good show. I was really happy to hear 41 and IBYU, which I might never hear again, so I consider myself lucky.

Derek R.
Looking back on last night, I would have to say it was the strangest dave show I have been to yet. This show makes 6 this year and 7 overall. To me, it falls behind only the alpine show and the 2nd night indy show. Anyhow, I arrived at the arena at 6 with three other guys and two girls. The chicks went to get a drink and as they were walking down the stairs, some guy who works for the arena gave them two front row seats right in front of boyd. We all went and asked, but he told us, and I quote "You can't ask, I have to pick you." and walked away. Maybe if I had some nice tits I would have gotten them too, but oh well. On to the show Pnp-->Rapunzel - Pretty standard here, nothing special #41 - same here crash - glad is came so early, got it out of the way r & r - I can't seem to get away from this song. I have seen 7 shows, this is the fourth time for r and r. Seems like they know when I'm there. Jimi thing- pretty normal for the first half, but the second half of the song was totally new to me. Stefan sounded like he was in a different key or something. Sounded heavier. Timmy had a nice solo on this, boyd had one and leroi had two. I liked this version alot stay- pretty rockin at the end, better than I have heard it before crush- timmy had a nice solo and the end of this one instead of boyd and leroi played back and forth, kinda dissapointed cause I really liked that part of the song. two step- My favorite song, totally awesome. It was normal until they were about to go into the double bass quads. all of the sudden, carter slams both sticks onto the snare and everything goes silent. The crowd thought the song was over. Then you could barely hear Carter playing the little beat ala LIOG. Then bela started playing a sweet solo over it. After about three minutes, out of nowhere, carter nailed the snare da-da-da-da da-da-da-da Sounded like a machine gun. It was the best two step I have ever heard. Great ddtw- I think bela added a nice touch to this one, always seemed to be missing him on the live version minarets - I was so pumped when dave started strumming in the beginning. rap intro was nice. I was hoping to hear it, cause I didn't see it last summer. Now about 5 minutes into minarets, bela starts this nice solo, very nice. I look over to my left, and in the aisle, this girl who was prolly about 20, with her back to me, lifts up her shirt. Now, the three guys I was with and the five guys behind us all saw her do it. One guy behind us keep trying to get her attention. Finally he was like "Hey!!!" and she turned around. He's like "Show us your tits!!" And that she did. Oh yeah, minarets, it ended and went straight into typical, nice version, no jam in the middle like they usually do, and where roi played the flute solo, bela took that. too much--> a pretty long astb, about 8-12 bars longer than usual, then a pretty straigtforward too much ibyu- I can't say enough about this song. I figured it was coming with crash already played. Dave and Carter had some nice harmonizes towards the end billies- no nature intro, just straight into it I had a blast. Great show. On : 8:15 Off: 10:40 Submitted by Jason Woods On stage: 8:04 pm "Roi Solo": It was Dave strumming occasionally, Carter laying down a really simple cymbal-based beat, and Roi playing around on the sax. -> "Pantala Naga Pampa": "Welcome to our home" as I've heard. What a nice way to open. Especially when we continue with... -> "Rapunzel": The slow, funky, Dave-fucks-up-the-words-alot version. I like it when its loud, fast, and hard (shut up, Chrissy). BUT, since I've never heard this version (slow that is) it was very cool. "#41": I love this song. I love it at the beginning of the show, I love it at the end. I love it when Dave plays it on his armpit. There's some nice Roi sax at the end. No Timmy solo. "Crash Into Me": As the on-going joke now goes on, I think ~I~ got pregnant this time! I sat down in "silent protest" of this song being played so early and ruining the momentum. The girl behind me was like, "Get up, this is CRASH!" I smiled at her and got up, cause she was having fun. "Rhyme and Reason": Very loud, very angry, very growly, very good. Yay for songs about needles and the like. Timmy on slide guitar. Great stuff. "Jimi Thang": I think it was a 13 minute beeyatch. Roi funked the sax up. Sounded like some kind of effect going on - the sax sounded almost "electric", although since I know zilch about the saxophone, it could have just been the kind he was playing. Timmy got to turn the mutha out, and the song ended sort of abruptly at the end of Timmy's solo work. "Stay": Crowd stayed pretty quite (except at the beginning) until the end when it just went on and on. I like it better without Poi Dog Pondering singing backup. Even though I LOVE Poi Dog! "Crush": Not a very long Stefan intro. Don't know the time on this one, and I'm too lazy to get up and look at the MiniDisc. Great (!) Tim solo at the end, with touches of Boyd. "Two Step": Killer! The song's goin on like it always does, and instead of going on to its normal finish, it stops, almost completely, until all we hear is a very light bass drum keeping the beat. Timmy proceeds to do a delay jam->distortion jam->delay jam. This is why he is my hero. Tim finishes his solo, and all of a sudden, Carter just POUNDS the drums and the song kicks back in to full volume. Gotta hear it to understand. Best Two Step I've heard in 13 shows. "Don't Drink the Water" (Bela): Well, for the first time EVER, this song was performed with its full "album cast" live on stage. Great Tim distorted-wah-peddle stuff at the beginning. Bela was just kinda there, didn't hear alot of banjo. Fairly standard, even with the guests. "Minarets" (Bela): One of my personal favorite songs, and my highlight of the show. Dave kinda looked at Bela and then whispered something that one can only guess was "Do you remember how this goes?" Bela acknowledges that he does indeed remember, and proceeds to show us. My favorite Minarets used to be 11-14-94 with Rusted Root. My new favorite is 11-19-98 with Tim and Bela. Scat intro and wailing intro. Once again, when its time to jam, Carter stops, lays down the bass drum beat, and Bela begins to wail. And WAIL! The last few times I've seen this song, its ended slowly and gone into TypSit. Now, it went slowly, and then finally hit that double-time speed and Bela was going nuts. Dave was going nuts with a huge smile. Timmy just LOOKS nuts, and everyone else is jamming for their lives! -> "Typical Situation" (Bela): My friend told me before the show that this was one of his least favorite songs. When we got out to my car, he told me it was his highlight of the show. Bela was tearing it up. It was very pretty, not frightfully long, and a very good demonstration of the talent of the band to play together. I don't think there was that nasty jam that sounds like the "Marimba" beat on my grandmother's organ. May it rest in peace. "Anyone Seen the Mother-funkin' Bridge?": This is very cool when there's no So Much To Say in the beginning. Not that I don't like So Much, its just gotten very standard. -> "Too Much": I've always liked this song. Nothing special about it tonight. Really upbeat and exciting way to end the set. Off stage: 10:14 Encore: 10:19 "I'll Back You Up": Started as just Tim, Dave, and Carter, but Stefan joined in when it was Tim's turn to solo, since he (Tim) had been providing the equivalent of the base line. Crowd was fairly quiet for this one, which was vey beautiful. "Tripping Billies": Very loud. Very Boyd. Crowd loved it, I loved it, and I'm sure the security guards (had they been allowed to) loved it. Crazy Boyd stuff at the end, along with some Carter craziness at the VERY bitter end. End: 10:32

Mark B.
I will try to be as critical as possible but this was my first show and the DMB rule. Ihave heard many tapes so I can be pretty critical. The crowd was really juiced for this show because this is a fairly new arena and the quality of good shows in this area aren't very high. The band started out with what I think is a great opener-Rapunzel. It seemed as though it was a little slower than usually but you can't even judge how great this song is without seeing it live. One of my biggest highlights of the night was definately #41 most of the hardcore fans really grooved on this one and nothing could ruin this song- it was excellent. Crash Into Me-not that the first to song weren't enough to get the crowd going but this was one of the biggest crowd pleasers. I think Dave was using the Chet on this one instead of what I heard he had been using some Paul Reed Smith. Rhyme and Reason- this song is just a great jam and the guys really started getting in the groove. Jimi Thing- another pleasant suprise but one of the songs that the jam was carried out a little to long for most peoples taste. Stay- Great song to see in person to just get the real feel for and just another one of their hits. Crush- This song is ok but most people we're ready to really get moving but they had to slow it down every once in a while. Two Step- Another highlight of mine- just a great tune that got the house rockin'. DDTW- This was another song that people sat down during but it had some really good points to it. Minarets- This song was a flop with the audience because most people really haven't heard it before so they would have liked something different but it was something that is unusually to hear so it was pretty cool. Typical Situation- This is antoher highlight- for the first part it was just Dave and his Chet and then the band joined him later on with a Bela Fleck banjo Solo at the end. Too Much- Another highlight Dave fooled us all with a weird intro that involved him strumming his muted guitar and making some weird noises coming out of his mouth, but the whole band and the audience got so into it and Boyd and Dave were dancing around like you wouldn't believe. I'll Back You Up- Beautiful song with just Dave, Tim, and Carter on background vocals, another highlight. Tripping Billies- Wow this song kicks in concert and Boyd and Dave went just completely wild on it and Dave broke a string right in the middlle of the violin solo but bareky missed a beat with a new guitar. Over all it was an unreal experience. C-ya

Mark S.
Highlights: 1 - The venue. It was loud. 2 - Starting with PNP-Rapunzel. So Much energy in this song. Good way to get everybody into it. 3 - Hearing songs #41, Minarets, Typical Situation, and Rhyme and Reason. These are songs that I've never heard live before and they all rocked. Bela Fleck really added a lot to Minarets and Typical Sitution. A lot of the fans sat down during these songs. Probably because they are RADIO fans. That sort of sucked! 4 - Two Step. Tim Reynolds added a lot to this song. At the end they slowed it down with a Tim solo and then straight into a Carter Bueford solo. This was a lot different then the old Two Steps. 5 - Crush. The extended outro with Tim Reynolds was really good. 6 - Anyone Seen the Bridge was really good. Sometimes this can really sound like shit, but tonight they had there shit together. 7 - DAVE MATTHEWS - he was really hyper. Dancing around and really putting all he had into every song. 8 - I expected I'll back you up, but it still was nice. Lowlights: 1 - Crash into Me 2 - Too Much 3 - The fans (too many radio fans) 4 - BOYD TINSLEY: I Didn't even notice that he was playing until the final song(tripping Billies)

John S.
Wow is all I can say. For starters, the crew gave away front row tickets to fans that were in the upper level sections in the arena before the concert started. This was an amazing concer start to finish. Bela fleck and the Fleckstones got everyone moving. Highlights the bassist and the saxphone player playing two saxs at once. Dave and the boys had more energy and fire than the crowd. I have never seen the band talk on stage so much.. Boyd was singing the words to Crash Into Me to himself with the biggest smile on his face I have ever seen. The solos were absolutely amazing. Bela Fleck is amazing and tim reynolds is outstanding.

John V.
One word: Amazing. Dave and the boys were on last night, maybe it was the two days off, maybe it was because Bela was there, but whatever it was it made for an intense show. Carter seemed to be having trouble with the drum set, because they took longer between songs than normal, but made up for lost time with extra long jams, Jimi Thing, Two Step, and Minarets (w/ Bela) were some of the best I've heard. Timmy wasn't featured that much, he kind of stood in the background by Boyd, but when Bela came out for three songs starting with DDTW, they turned it up a notch, they were obviously having a great time up there, LeRoi came up to him and gave him a high five after Typical Situation, and they all Dave and Stefan hugged him as he was leaving. If anyone gets a chance to see Bela with or without Dave, Go. Over all a great show, by far the best I've seen.

Andrew A.
Wow, I have to say that I was extremely impressed with Van Andel Arena, sound was great, lighing was decent too. Bela and the Flecktones were wacky, like always, I was surprised at the number of fans that were listening to them. I never realized how short Tim is, he plays one hell of a guitar. Leroi started out with a little solo, which was great, some fans seemed a little confused. PNP->Rapunzel- Pretty basic tunes, decent opener, I was looking to hear seek up as the opener, but Rapunzel is a great song, live makes it even better. #41- One of my favorites, a little surprised to hear it, but it was awesome, the crowd really got into it. Crash- Decent, made all the crash-heads happy like always, dixie chicken was an interesting twist. R&R- Standard, not too much to say about this one. Fun jam on the end. Jimi Thing- Absolut craziness, I loved it, great long version too, 10+ minutes. Carter went nuts. Stay- I was surprised how much different it was with the background singers, a good live song. Crush- A lot of people sat down when this started, I couldn't figure out why, I loved it, Boyd was awesome, and dancing around the stage, great solo work. Two Step- Great Song, loved it, so did the entire crowd, great partying song. DDTW- pretty standard, dave mumbled some words, like always, but it was alright. Bela joined them on stage Minarets- I think everybody but Steffan had a solo in the intro to this one, which was pretty cool, Dave showed a ton of emotion too. Good to hear this oldie. ->Typical Situation- Surprise, my favorite, great version, real quiet, Bela was amazing on this one. And dave really got into this song more that any other. Too Much- I liked this version live, never did like it too much off the CD, get it... too much. anyway the crowd was really rockin' on this one, and dave was singing some interesting lyrics too. Encore: IBYU- I was hoping they would play this, even with the whole crowd yelling for Watchtower, I was glad to hear this great song, and I was almost expecting it since they've played it so much lately, and I was pleased they've brought it back. Tripping Billies- I was hoping for Ants, but TB was a great closer, they jammed for a while too, the crowd was bringing the roof down, and Carter went nutzo on the drums towards the end, which sent the crowd into a frenzy that only Carter could send a crowd into. This was a great show, great setlist, no huge surprises, but great sound the whole night, I was blown away, and I got to hear Typical Situation, so I can die a happy man.

Ceciia S.
Great concert!!!! This is my third this year and I was hoping for older music and they didn't disapoint! We had amazing seats. Perfect view. It is incredible to see the way Dave interacts with the band when they are all jaming. We had side view seats and it gives you a totally different experience of the band. Bela Fleck was getting the crowd ready for the band. I don't know all the names of the band, but the bass player is pretty amazing. Worth the extra time to check them out. Rapunzel standard opening. Good opener for the crowd. My section was lame but oh well. #41 hadn't heard since Chicago. Great song, this one was highlighted by Tim's gutar work. Dave changed the words of the song and that made it all the more special. Crash The only exciting part of this song was the dixe chicken outro. Other wise this is done for the masses. Ryme&Reason Totally did not expect this. This was one of the highlights. The intro got my section totally into it. Jimi Thing. This had a long ass jam at the end. It really slowed up the tempo for those that have no idea that this is the shit. I had one lady actually falling asleep next to me.Tim jammed this song. Didn't realize he was so short. The band was really tight. Dave looked like he was just groven on the whole thing. Definately a highlight of the show. Stay Simillar to the MTV Video Music version. Liked this much better at the Chicago show when they had their opening band come out and sing back up. Crush Love this song. Mellow..Total cool vibe, at least where I was standing. Our section must of all won tickets to this show because no one knew any of these songs. Two step High light Intro was amazing boyd and dave just get this song going and the whole place goes crazy. Tim had a jam that was in grove with the rest of the band. This song jammed on forever. I saw Bela Fleck backstage and I thought for sure he was coming out for this song, but he came out instead for DDTW. DDTW this was good for this song. Bela Fleck made the difference. It seemed to have a different effect. He jammed the banjo while Dave backed him up. This was a lot better then what I have heard in the past. Minarets Hell Yes!!!!!This was awsome. Had no idea what he was going into and then he hit the first cord and it clicked. Boyd is my favorite part of this song. Once again no one knew this. Two Much Much better then other shows. The crowd was all into this one. Dave had "happy feet" all through this one.Was hoping for Dancing Nancies, but was happy with this one. Back You Up Highlight of the show. Had seen that they were playing this and had hoped it they would here. When dave came out and said this is one of the first songs that we played, I lost my mind. This song is all Dave. Cannot wait for the Dave Tim Tour!!!! Tripping Solid, but was hoping for Watchtower. Overall, a great show. R&R, BYU,Minarets were the reason to have a tape of this. Dave was into this. He broke 3 guitar strings during this show. Who else is sick of Crash?? I think I caught a few evil glances when I groaned when the song came on. Looking forward to Detroit and Chicago.