Alan V.
Out of the eight times I have seen dave and the boys this is easily the best show I have seen. Here are the highlights: Tim and Roy really jammed right before pantala naga pampa. It was like another song, the jam ended slowly and stopped then into pnp> Rapunzel. BOWA is always a great song to hear live and this was a great version, What Would you Say was outstanding. They really don't play this song much anymore but they really jammed this one. Maceo came out and on the part in the song where dave has his solo maceo was also soloing at the same time. Crush was also a great version tim was just shredding it up as usual. Minarets was really great to hear especially with the rap intro. It's good to hear songs from back at trax. Warehouse was a great jam, another good live song as are all of them but you know what I mean.. Recently was great to hear another one of the oldies. Two Step was the main highlight for me. I have a huge bootleg collection including this year! and I have never heard a version like this. It was long and tim had kill solo. I'll back you up was cool to hear since it was the first song that dave ever finished. Ants was as usual a great jam.

Jeffrey B.
Well, the Midwest finally got a keeper tonight. Great audience, great performance, and a great venue for a show. Smaller than most venues, the Mark captured the aura perfectly this evening. Lots of older songs to make the setlist one of the most unique of late. DDTW-standard version, not much new has changed with this over the year. Tim and Roi had solos after this. Tim used his pedals to sound like Roi's sax. I don't think many people even realized it was Tim sounding like Roi on his guitar. PNP->Rapunzel-got the crowd really moving. Very loud and the boys were right on with each other. Long jam at the end. Best of What's Around-a surprise to hear. Great version with Dave mumbling at the end. What Would You Say-Maceo came out and jammed on this one. It is really nice to hear this again. Crush-standard, Timmy solo at the end. Stefan's bass pummeled the Mark. Minarets-another treat for tonight's crowd. Dave's "rapping" at the beginning got this one groovin'. So Much to Say-Different to hear this one by itself. No baby jam->Too Much so it was nice to get just this one. The Stone-the more I hear it live, the better it gets. Long jam at the end w/ Timmy making some errie noises. Add some dancin' Dave and this made for a great version. Warehouse-thank you...that is all I can say. Stop-time, loud, and great lighting for this one makes it one of the best songs to hear live. Recently-thanks again. No intros or outros, just one long party jam!!!Everyone got to show off at the end, and boy did they have fun. Two Step-killer groove. Tim had yet another wicked solo at the end of this one. Used some effects and sped it up tremendously...did anyone notice the spinning wheel visual going crazy behind Timmy? Stay-Carter went off at the end of this one...again standard, but fun. Encore: I'll Back You Up-Tim, Carter, Dave and Stefan came out and surprised me with this. So close to Christmas, yet we are blessed with this treat instead. Another beautiful Tim solo at the end of this as well. Ants Marching-Boyd went crazy during his solo. Carter capped off the evening with a flurry of drums. The boys knew it was a great show, and they capped it off by playing this. Seemed Tim got to shine alot tonight along with Roi. Boyd didn't have too many chances to show off, but everyone was groovin' perfectly with everyone else. Dave was dancing and smiling most of the evening, and all in all, the show turned out to be one of the Midwest's finest moments they have had in a while. Thanks again fellas.

Suzanne W.
Although this was a great show, I have one negative comment. Band did not do a sound check in the afternoon, and it showed. Throughout the show, crew had to tinker with Carter's drum set, violin amp, and bass amp. I'm not sure that I could tell the difference, but the band must have because they kept signalling the crew to do something. Maybe things get a little loose at the end of a long tour. As a matter of fact, the band was loose and having a good time throughout the show. Maceo Parker's opener was much better than at Champaign. The audience reaction was strong. Then the boys took the stage. Carter was tinkering with his set,and after getting his attention, Dave playfully wagged his pointing finger at him as if to say, Get with it. The band started with an echoing, mysterious, free- form music featuring Tim sounding like an organ. Leroi's soprano sax work throughout the evening was magnificent. Then into Don't Drink The Water. I think that many fans don't like this song because there's not a lot a room for improvisation, but I still like the song. I saw the band 7 times this year, and I didn't mind hearing it again and again. Later in the season, Carter uptempoed it a little, which improved the song. The band swung from Pantala Naga Pampa into Rapunzel. Throughout the show, Dave was a dancing fool. While singing Rapunzel, his expressive eyebrows were dancing, too. Both the band and the audience loved The Best of What's Around; Leroi on tenor sax was wailing. Maceo Parker joined in on What Would You Say--lots of fun. Crush featured energetic Boyd and then Tim solos, with a big finish by Carter. Carter was playing with a lot of flash throughout the show and having the time of his life. He cracked up Dave a few times, resulting in more finger-waving. Dave's scat opening to Minarets was terrific. At Champaign, Dave had teased Minarets before playing The Last Stop. Therefore, I expected The Last Stop again; when Dave sang "Santa Maria ..." I practically fell over. Nice long jam. Too Much ended with a big Carter finish. The Stone improves the more you hear it. Dave got a little lost in the lyrics of Warehouse; at one point he just backed off and let Leroi save the day with a brief solo. After Dave recovered and sang another verse, Leroi again soloed. I think that having Maceo, one of his heroes there, inspired Leroi to greater heights. He had the best night I have seen. The next song was really incredible. You don't think of Recently as much of a jam song, but that's what it became. Leroi and Boyd alternated, and Carter really let it rip. Two Step occasioned another wild jam; Timmy was in orbit. The jams got longer as the evening progressed; Dave was dancing up a storm; the band was having the time of their collective life. When Dave, Carter, and Tim came back for the encore, I expected Christmas Song. Instead, we were treated with I'll Back You Up -- another live first for me. Timmy's solo was beautifully plaintive and plaintively beautiful. The big finish was Boyd on Ants Marching. God, he looks good in black leather! Overall, the setlist leaned on the funkier songs in their songbag, which complemented the Maceo Parker opener. This year's been grand. I just hope they do a sound check before the webcast in Chicago.

Graham G.
All in all a pretty good show from the boys. They put in a couple great songs; Minarets and I'll Back you Up were unexpected, they were great; What Would you Say with Maceo Parker was jamming, and Warehouse and Two Step were especially good. The highlight for me though was Recently, a great extended version, the jam was out of this world. I could have done without an end with Stay, and also Ants, but this version of Ants was really good, Boyd was going crazy all the way over by Roi. The crowd was decent, the sound was decent, the setlist wasn't very fluent, no songs leading into others, but the band was at its best. Dave put on a great show for the second show of Graham, Ryan, Dan, and Kyle. See ya.

Aaron
Overall: Pretty decent setlist, very unpredictable DDTW: no live with outro, standard, let's get it out of the way early PNP--> Rapunzel: didn't hear it in Champaign, no surprises BOWA: haven't heard it in a while WWYS: Maceo Parker came out for this one, I was kind of hoping he and Leroi would go back and forth, but Maceo did 2 cool solos Crush: cool song, nothing spectacular Minarets: I was happy to hear this, scat intro and all. Dave sang lyrics to some beatles song to introduce it, but I'm not sure what they were...love this song Too Much: seemed like it was missing something w/o ASTB The Stone: heard this in Champaign also, starting to really like this song Warehouse: stop time intro is one of the best...strobe lights and all Recently: they soundchecked to this song, and it showed. This wasn't edit1 or edit2, but the full versions, boyd and leroi going back and forth...no intro or outro, but the lights for this were amazing Two Step: this one got EVERYONE dancing, even Dave was smiling at the end of this one. Tim did a solo at the end again, but wasn't quite as good as Champaign solo IMHO Stay: strange as a closer, but good song anyway ENCORE: IBYU: glad it wasn't xmas song, although unlike Champaign, it was really loud during this one, people screaming and what not ANTS:one of the better Ants I've seen them do, BOYD!!! he went nuts on this one, spending the last third of the song in between Stefan and Leroi, only the second time I've evr seen him cross over the center stage I have to say the set was very unpredictable after the first few songs, which I enjoy a lot. Minarets was cool to hear, as were Recently and Warehouse. The scat intor to Minarets made the show for me. Well, time for me to go, you'll here from me again for my Chicago review tonite!!

Ben S.
Very solid and energetic show. Timmy just adds even more spice to this incredible band. Old school and brand new songs were the highlights of the evening. It looked like we were going to see all new stuff, but What Would You Say? was huge!!! Maceo Parker came out to end the song in style on a long saxophone solo. Crush was ended by a solo on Tim's part. He took it to a new height leaving Leroi completely out at the end. To my disbelief, Dave started to scat before a well-composed Minarets--a beautiful ballad that doesn't get much credit, but a real crowd-pleaser. Tim hit his peak to end Two Step in a dazzling guitar solo. He is truly incredible to see and even a bit scary to look at. All in all, the Dave Matthews Band was "on" tonight. They didn't just jam to annihilation, but made a very clean performance. After a long break Dave came out and silenced the crowd with a calming performance of I'll Back You Up. The only thing that could top the night was an outstanding Ants Marching. Boyd, Boyd, and some more Boyd was just the thing to end the night on. He headed over to the opposite side of the stage and jammed right in front of a couple, lucky friends of mine (Nate and Woody). This band just gets better with time and tonight showed how diverse they can really be.

Tim
50 times better than Champaign!! The Mark was the place to be Friday night. The true effect from the lighting came out from the smaller venue and the sound was so much better. DDTW:Turned out to be a pretty good opener with the tim and roi solo at the end. PNP-->Rapunzel:Good long jam at the end of this and the crowd was definitely into it now--and not going anywhere for the rest of the night Best of What's Around:Wasn't expecting this...turned into a pretty good jam What Would You Say:Real good song to hear because it isn't played much and Maceo came out and spiced it up a bit w/his sax solo. Crush:Tim went wild on it--he's awesome(he added a bit during the show where he played roi's sax on his guitar) Minarets:again, never played much currently and dave took it away with about a 1-2 minute rap at the beginning. Great song to hear. Too Much:was w/o the So Much and ASTB intros--better that way! The Stone:was a real good jam;however, dave stopped at one point to let the crowd sing and the crowd stopped so Dave had to step back up to the mic.(only disappointment from the crowd) Warehouse:stole the show!! Stop time intro. They were quiet and not playing anything and I heard one or two hits of the intro. I knew it was coming and about a minute later they started in. This was my highlight of the evening and I'm sure it was the person's next to me since he swallowed the roach! This had the place all stirred up now and the lighting was great on it too. Recently:another shocker, just a big ole jam!! Great song too keep us crazies at the mark going. Two Step:chalk another awesome jam up on the board. Tim had an awesome solo and it matched right in with the spinning wheels on the wall!! Stay:Was a good one to end it on with Carter bashing like crazy at the end. I'll Back You Up:THANKS. We were all expecting the Xmas Song since they'd been playing it the past couple weeks but what to our wondering eyes should appear:Stefan! so we knew it wasn't xmas. Ants:Boyd hadn't really shined all night with any long solos--so much for that. He went wild at the end of this one-wouldn't stop. This was Dave's way of thanking the crowd for a good night!! This concert was definitely one of their best of the fall. The crowd was LOUD and into it the whole time and Timmy was bustin' out funky grooves all night. Roi has some great solos too. The band gelled good tonight. THANKS!

Josh M.
I want to say WOW! How else could this be described. I saw DMB in concert at Assembly Hall just 3 days prior and loved that show and thought it could not be topped. But I was wrong. The crowd was great, the venue even better, being smaller than than the Hall. I was so surprise to hear Minarets, and I thought the band really rocked on Recently, plus the great Tim solo at the begining. At first I thought it was Roi, but then looked over and saw Tim playing with the pedals and WOW, that man can make his quitar sing, truely amazing. Of course, the show was topped off by a DMB classic, Ants was increadible, probably one of my favorite songs to here live. Thanks for the great shows in Illinois guys.