Rusty C.
A two hour set, the first hour you couldn't hear. Mystical arived late for his set, and ended up going onstage about 500 feet from dave, so we had a nice mix of twostep & shake it fast. After dave had been on for about an hour, everyone started to leave because the you couldn't hear the music. This turned the crowd from about 30 thousand down to about 10. We were able to slip up real close and got an amazing show. I'll review from I did it on, because that was all i could here. I did it has a different feel that the last time i heard it live, alot more energy. Stephan started up his usual bass line and i knew the next song would be watchtower. Then i heard a strange voice as lenny began to sing the song, it was amazing. After watchtower, dave walked to the side of the stage and motioned at someone, none other than paul simon. And then ants, which was amazing, the crowd sang the lyrics louder than dave. Encore was full of energy, stay lasted at least 15 mins, with 5 being just the "make you wanna stay" line. Truly and amazing show. If only it had been at a better venue.

Kurt
Well, DMB doesn't come "down south" to often, so we a real treat today. The best concert of the tour so far in my opinion--based on the setlists and reviews. The energy, Lenny and Paul--I'll get to that later, and WHAT A SETLIST! Opener was Two Step...I called it. Lyrics at the beginning were cool--something about "packed down front"--which we were. WTWE was awesome. Most the crowd knew the lyrics to everyday stuff. WWYS was unbelieveable! Roi and Boyd both took long nice solos. BOWA with ladies! I had never heard that. It sounded good. IIHIA is probably the best live song from everyday. Billies was another good jam. Angel was pretty standard, but with the ladies. This song is growing on me. STDH was good and short--kinda killed the mood. It was followed by GIG and JTR. The crowd didn't know them--obviously. One other drunk and myself new the words. IDI woke everybody up. It sounds so much better than the 1st time i heard it on snl. After that, I think they said screw the written setlist. They had a little meeting and the ladies came back and they played 36-everyday-36 which almost brought me to tears. After that Dave came to the mic and said a lot of friends were around. I thought he meant the crowd but then he walked off stage and came back with Lenny Kravitz. The place blew up. He sang the first verse of watchtower and helped on the chorus, but he didn't play a guitar. Before he walked off stage, he went around and hugged everybody. Then Dave walked off stage and came back with Paul Simon. I thought I was going to fall over! Dave took his guitar off and gave it to Paul. Paul, Boyd, Carter, and Stef played JULIO! Dave clapped and danced in place. All the guys had smiles a foot wide! They had another "band meeting" and played ants. Very red rocksish. Unbelieveable! After the longest break, they came back and played LBV and closed with a jammin' "stay". It fit the day so well. It was hot and the video makes me think of new orleans. So, for $15 bucks, we saw Lenny Kravitz, Paul Simon, and DMB. A great day. Peace

Josh G.
This show was an experience that both serious Dave fans and casual listeners alike would have enjoyed. Dave started out hard with Two Step and jammed into some of his new stuff off of Everyday. Dave then broke out the 12-string and played 3 songs off of the Lillywhite Sessions, including JTR. Although many fans had no clue what the songs were, there was still a great response from the jazzfest record breaking crowd. The highlight of the show came with the playing of Watchtower, and Me & Julio. For Watchtower, Lenny Kravitz walked out on stage, and sang the 1st half of Watchtower, adding a very soulful touch the song. Then, much to Dave's suprise, Paul Simon walks out on stage, Dave quickly hands over his guitar, points him to the mike, and Paul plays Julio, with great Jams from Boyd and Leroi, while Dave danced around like a five year old at Christmas. Dave commented later, that he was incredibly happy after meeting Paul, which was obvious to the crowd, as Dave played his encore with a renewed energy. Dave could have very well played for hours on end, and I'm sure he would have if he weren't playing at a festival venue. Overall, from the bootlegs I've heard and the shows I've seen, this has to be one of Dave's greatest. Dave used the "lovely ladies" throughout the show. Also (forgetting which song) Boyd used a distortion pedal, which sounded awesome, and got a huge reaction from the crowd. At times, it sounded much like an electric guitar solo, something I think Boyd should employ more in shows, to add a more full sound to many songs.

Benjamin C.
The Dave Matthews Band hadn't played a show in the New Orleans area in three years and the wait was almost worth it. The set started off with "Track 2's" from Crash, Everyday, and UTAD respectively; unfortuneatly, Rapunzel didn't follow. The lovely ladies joined in on BOWA and Angel. Angel is pretty good live but I think Carter can take some more creative liabilities with the drum parts. Billies rocked and Dave slowed it down a bit so "we could have a beer or two" with Sleep To Dream Her going right into Grace is Gone. Leroi lent a nice saprano sax solo to extend GIG. JTR opened with Dave and the girls singing "Rain, Rain down over me" in a slow gospel type way. Very cool. If I Had It All was like most of the new album tracks- sounded just like the album or worse with no new jams. The exception to this is Everyday with #36 mixed in. I read about this and it really is a cool thing to witness with the band playing #36 and Dave and the girls singing Everyday and/or #36 at the same time. After that, a familiar face was seen onstage. "There's good friends all over the place" Dave said as Lenny Kravitz joined him onstage to help sing All Along The Watchtower. Stefan had a sweet bass intro and Kravitz sang most of the intro stuff with Dave taking over about midway through. After Dave sang the first verse, Kravitz kept singing "All Along the Watchtower" over and over again as a second "first" verse. After Watchtower, Dave had Paul Simon come on stage. Simon took Dave's guitar and played Me and Julio Down by The Schoolyard with the band while Dave walked around on stage with a huge smile on his face. Ants was a great closer with about 8-10 drum hits before the band came in. I was hoping for Diggin a Ditch or possibly Granny in the encore but Long Black Veil was cool. I really think Dave wanted to "stay" in New Orleans because the song was about 7 minutes long and Dave had some crazy dance stuff happening. Overall, a really great show with some cool special guests.

Damien B.
This was the most amazing DMB performance that i have ever seen. If you are a true DMB fan this concert was like a dream. It started with an excellent jam of two step and then played WTWE. What would you say really rocked the house and i finally got to hear The Best of whats around . That is the first time they have played it in the four shows that I have been to.They played other songs off of everyday like Angel, I Did it,sleep to dream her and If i had it all. The song that i thought was most impresive even though i have heard it a thousand times was Trippin Billies. This performance of this song was unbelievable, it rivals All along the Watchtower with Lenny Kravitz and the band . That is how good it was and that was an awesome performance all i could say was Wow! Then to top off special guest paul simon comes on and sings julio with the band Awesome!! They then played Ants Marching and took a break , for the encore they played the long black veil and then Jammmed ! Stay which is one of the best songs i think they sing. I also was pleased with the songs he played from the lillywhite sessions I wasnt expecting them and was very glad to hear them although i was one of the few in the crowd who knew the words i could tell there were a few DMB fans who new these songs. Grace Is gone excellent! Anyway that is about it I just wanted to put in my thoughts on the concert as well .

David L.
Let me start by saying that the size of the crowd was totally unbeleivable. People were at the DMB stage as early as 10 hours before the show to stake out there spot. Jazzfest officials estimated the Saturday crowd at 150,000!! Cowboy Mouth was the "opening band" The reason for the quotations is that they were simply the band on before DMB since is was general admission and festival type format. Anyway, they sucked and were very cheesy. Now on with DMB. Two Step. Great opener however it lacked a loooong jam I was hoping for. (festival time limits I'm sure) They played a good mix of Everday, Lillywhite, and old stuff. There were three peaks to the show in my opinion. Trippin was off the hook. It was a good pick me up after a slow Angel. Lenny Kravitz took the stage with the band for Watchtower. Definitely a crowd pleaser. His part was small, but his presence was appreciated. Lot's of energy. The legendary Paul Simon then took the crowd by storm and performed "me and Julio". They closed with a hyped and dance filled Ants. Encore was awesome with the lovely ladies going off with LBV followed by Stay. Dave and the band were very energetic and all smiles and dancing. Except for Leroi of course! Despite the 150,000 crowd, they were very lame and ignorant to any song that does not play on the radio. You can expect that from a festival crowd. However, I am sure dave converted some of these casual fans into die-hards with this awesome performance. By the way, the beard has been shaven. I give the show a 9 out of 10. DMB gave a 10 type performance however the massive lame crowd earned the experience a 9.

Shelley H.
After a much anticipated wait during the stage set up, the band finally came out and opended with an energetic two-step. When the world ends brought a total new rhythm to stage and drove the crowd crazy with the sudden abrupt ending. Both old fans and new could enjoy the jams with mixtures of old stuff...ants marching and what would you say ,and new...angel and if i had it all. Sleep to dream her was beautiful giving the crowd some time to sip a few beers and Best of whats around drove the women crazy with the lovely ladies accompanying. Surpirse guest Lenny Kravitz crazed up the crowd accompanying Dave to AATW and Paul Simon took the stage jamming while Dave walked across the stage repeativley, obviously having a blast. The concert ended with ants marching but the crowd refused to leave, and expressed this through chants of "encore" and "we want dave"! Soon the band re-appeared and encored with long black veil and a very energetic 'stay', which we all wished they would have just stayed awhile longer. Overall, the concert was a huge success, a music etopia for me, who happened to squeeze up to the front row. Between the variety of songs, awesome jams, and that cute dance thing dave does with his feet while playing, the crowd went crazy and was left very satisfied! ~Shelley Howell

David M.
The show in New Orleans was simply amazing! Fortunately I was able to stake out a good spot in the lawn and ended up close to the front with those I was at the concert with. I must say that I now have so much more of an appreciation for the bands music. To see the energy these guys put into the show and they ways their faces lit up on stage was amazing. Dave looked like a little kid when Paul Simon took the stage. He was in complete 'awe' of Simon. Granted, I have one heck of a sunburn from sitting outside all day, but it was well worth it when I was close enough to exchange a hello with Dave himself. The new material I thought was outstanding. It was nice to see Dave using the accoustic guitar tuned accordingly to play some of his new stuff. I liked the fact that Sleep to dream her and Grace is Gone were tied into a melody and the new twist on combining #36 with Everyday was quite a treat as well. On a side note, I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with several warehouse members this weekend. Amity, Ru, Chritina, and Cynthia, you guys were great! The memories from this weekend will be some that I will never forget. For those of you who missed jazz fest, you missed quite a treat. Dave was at his best and those of us who were fortunate enough to not hear mystikal in the background enjoyed an awesome 2 hour set.

Frank M.
I have no idea why DMB doesn't come to New Orleans every tour! If they are worried about drawing enough people then after this past Saturday I don't see how that could be used as an argument anymore. Jazzfest 2001 drew more people than every and I don't think it's cause of any other band other than DMB. So, if anybody is reading this that is in some way connected to the venue process, please listen to this plea...come to New Orleans, book the New Orleans Arena, and believe me, people will come to watch. So, getting off that soapbox...this show was my ninth, and all things considered, it was pretty cool. I'm not a big fan of general seating, but in this case it was okay. I could pretty much leave the "Everyday" stuff out and take everything else. Seeing Lenny Kravitz was bad-ass even though I got him confused with a long dead rock star. They started playing Watchtower, and I saw Kravitz up there and even though my mind was saying "That's Lenny Kravitz!" my mouth said, "That's Jimi Hendrix!" Yeah, I was drunk. Seeing Paul Simon was even greater, and I didn't get him confused with, say, Art Garfunkel or anything. Highlights besides those would have to be "Grace is Gone" (Though in a big venue the beauty of that song gets lost in the crowd.), "JTR", and "Stay". I love hearing the old stuff as well..."WWYS" and "Billies" were great to hear. And a special thanks to the band for playing "BOWA" so my fiance could keep her streak of going to 5 DMB shows and hearing that one at every single one alive. All in all, it was a good show, not a great one, but solid through and through...just gotta get rid of those damn "Everyday" songs...

Amity D.
Jazz Fest was incredible, but y'all only wanna hear about DMB. So, DMB it is, from the second row dead center standpoint (how amazing is that?!?!?!!!). When Dave walked out on stage, he walked out to the front, looked out, smirked, leaned out over the stage, looked to the right, smirked, sloooowly turned his head, looked to the left, smiled huge, turned around, walked back to his guitar, put it on, and started playing. That alone made my day. I don't want to make this too long, so I won't do song by song, but I will do MY personal highlights. All the stuff that was said about Mystikal did not apply to me. I couldn't hear Mystikal at all. I was so close that I could have spit on the guys! It was incredible. Okay, sorry I'm getting off track - I was excited to see that Dave plays the new stuff with his acoustic guitar too. It adds a nice twist to it. Like everyone has said, it does sound much like the album, but I like it, so I'm not about to start complaining. I loved the lovely ladies. As soon as I saw the 3 mics in a row, I was excited, and every chance I could get I was screaming for them to play LBV. I was THRILLED to hear that as the encore! I am completely convinced that they played it for me!!! Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. I wanted them to open with Billies...what better song for Jazz Fest than that...but I was tickled to see them play it period. Dave and Boyd had an incredible jam and Dave was dancing everywhere and going NUTS! I think that was the song he broke his string in, but I forget. I know he did break one. Boyd also went crazy. It was great! STDH into GIG was nice...those 2 blend together really well. I was delighted to hear how he did the Everyday/36 blend...it really sounded to me like he was gonna start with Everyday, and the girl behind me even started singing it, but just as you least expect it, they bust out "Honey, Honey...." then took that into Everyday, played the full song, then Boyd and Leroi and the Ladies were doing 36 while Dave was singing Everyday....it sounded like "Honey, Honey....Everyday.....Honey Honey....Everyday...." Finally Dave went into #36 with them, and then they all went back to Everyday. NICE. Toward the end of that is when Lenny came up adn started talkign to Carter. He talked to Carter for a minute, hten Boyd, then ducked back to the left corner of stage. All of us started screaming "LENNY, LENNY, LENNY, LENNY," and when he walked out, he went up to Dave, they talked for a second, Lenny shrugged his shoulders and made kind of an unsure face as if he were saying "I can try..." and they started singing Watchtower. Sorry I have to say this...Lenny is SO HOT...want to touch the hiney!!! Three quarters of the way through Watchtower, Paul showed up in the back right corner of stage. When Dave was hugging Lenny and thanking him, we started chanting "PAUL, PAUL, PAUL!!!" Lenny left, Paul walked out on stage, Dave turned around (Paul was between Dave and Carter), Dave shook his hand, they talked for a second, Dave shrugged, took off his guitar, and gave it to Paul. HOLY COW i was not expecting that!!! Dave went to get a drink or something while Paul started to play, then Dave came back out into center stage and started bobbing his head, clapping along, and dancing. It was great. Ants was upbeat and happy, and Carter was AMAZING! When they came back out for the encore (and I'm tellin ya - LBV was for ME), Dave told us that he hoped we were having a good time, then said "Shit, I got to meet Paul Simon today. I'm just about as happy as can be!!" with this HUGE smile on his face. In fact, he and the guys were smiling the whole show. It was easy to see that they were really excited. LBV was amazing (as I've said like 10 times) and halfway through it at a quiet spot I yelled "Thaaaaaannnnkkkk Yooouuuu!!!" I hope they heard me! Stay was fabulous. As much as others may object, I love it as an encore. I did wanna stay. Oh well, I'll see them again in 4 days!!!! (= ! This was by far the best show that they did for me!

Jesse
My 8th time seeing DMB, and by far the worst performance. I heard the opening two step riff and got excited. Unfortunately, the intro was the best part. It was an album version of two step with no jam. Very disappointing and foreshadowed the rest of the day. WTWE, I'm not a big fan of the new stuff but probably the best of the new ones. WWYS was probably one of the best jams of the day. Then he brought the god damn "lovely ladies" out AGAIN! The last two years I've seen Dave 6 times and haven't seen him without the ladies. Dave, dig them a ditch... Basically the whole middle of the set was everyday stuff. Tripping Billies was the best song of the day. Great Jam! STDH is an awful song. GIG and JTR were good but standard. IIHIA was decent. I Did It... I plead the fifth. Dave, you've already ruined #36 by writing Everyday, dont' do the Everyday->#36 thing. It is really lame and confusing and no one gets it... Then came Watchtower... I was hoping that with Lenny Kravitz up there he would actually do something, unfortunately he sort of sang a verse and that's it. Wasn't even holding an instrument. Watchtower sounded pretty confused. Not that strong of a version. Paul Simon came out and now I'm excited. Me and Julio was really short unfortunately but it was still great to see Paul Simon. Ants was a good closer as always. Encore was pretty weak, again Dave... get rid of the ladies. Sorry if any of you disagree with this review but I honestly think DMB was really weak today. Hopefully they'll realize to ditch the ladies and Everyday when they go to Buffalo in a couple months

Benjamin
I can't say enough to those of you who have never had the opportunity or chance to see Dave live in concert. GO TO A SHOW! This show just blew me away. When I saw Paul and Lenny on stage with Dave everyone knew magic would happen. This show topped the charts for me personally. The two hour set was just long enough to leave that impact on me. But the energy of the crowd could have allowed Dave to play on for several more hours if he hadnt had to get off stage. Speechless.

Matt R.
My first show of the tour, 12th overall, and one of the best if not the best ever!! I've never seen so many people at one place in my life, it was just a huge sea of people and was the biggest day of jazzfest history. Luckily I made it up pretty close to the stage a little off to the left. I thought the crowd kinda sucked because it was so big and not everybody was there to see DMB. There was a big group of annoying high school kids right next to me fighting each other the whole time and just being idiots. While the stage was being set up, I saw them bring out 3 extra mics for the lovely ladies and I wasn't too happy about that but I'll talk more about that later. Dave shaved the beard and had his hair kinda slicked back. Dave first walked out to the edge of the stage and looked down each side at how many people were there and went and laughed about it with Carter. To the set..... Two Step- I love this song as an opener and it really got the crowd going. In the intro lyrics dave said something about the huge crowd of people but I coudn't really understand it. WTWE- My first taste of the new stuff and this sounded awesome live!! I loved the way dave gets so into it at the end and then just turns around when it cuts off. Angel- first song with the electric and it sounded good. not one of my favorites off everyday but it sounded alright live. STDH- dave introduced it as "this is a real quiet song, so y'all just sip a beer or something" I liked this one live but still think it's better on the album. dave played the end of it straight into..... GIG- really really good. a lot of people around me seemed to know it which was cool. JTR- the ladies came out and dave grabbed the 12-string so i knew it was coming. Awesome version and a little longer than usual, i think they played the chorus an extra time or two. IIHIA- he started it like the album version (unlike c-ville) and this one was really good live, everybody seemed to be singing along on the chorus. didn't really like the ladies on this one. IDI- when i saw the electric i was hoping for So Right but this was good live. it seems to be getting a lot better and everybody was singing along. Everyday- this was badass! it had the 36 intro and outro and they jammed out the end forever. one of my favs off everyday. Watchtower- before it started I saw somebody in the back talking to Carter and right away I noticed it was Lenny Kravitz. he started to walk off stage and dave noticed him and did a double take and ran over to him and i guess he asked if he wanted to sing watchtower. I don't think it was planned at all. Lenny sang the first 3 verses and sounded great and sang along after the later chorus just singing "All Along the Watchtower" over and over. During this song i noticed a little man standing on the side of the stage with a yellow hat on and knew it was Paul Simon right away. I pointed it out to everybody around me and the girl next to me said "Julio?" and I thought I don't know, I don't want to get my hopes up. I figured he was there just to watch the show but after watchtower dave's bodyguard walked him out onto the stage. Dave was just glowing and looked really surprised. Dave took his guitar off and gave it to Paul (i went crazy at this time) and dave went back to talk to Carter about playing Julio I guess. Paul walked right over to one of the lovely ladies mics and went staight into...... Julio- I could not contain myself! Carter jumped in playing a rhythm on the toms and Stefan played as well. Dave just stood around kinda dancing and singing along to himself but never sang along on the mic. During the whisteling solo, Roi soloed and actually played the melody of the song!!! This was sooooo badass!!!! I couldn't believe this was all happening and was so thankful to be there at this time and knew this board was gonna go apeshit when they read about it. It ended all too fast though because the song is so short to begin with. Dave thanked him and seemed so honored. He later went to the mic and said "I hope y'all are having a great time, I know I am, I just met Paul Simon!!" Overall, an amazing show that I felt very thankful to be at. I really liked the new songs and think they are getting better each show from the recordings I've heard. The Everyday-Watchtower-Julio combo was one for the books, something truly special. I didn't see any tapers but there were a ton of flags up in the air and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few mics attached to some of them. Well, 1 down and 4 to go for the tour.