Brianne
I love to check out reviews to shows I've been to, and I was bummed out to see that nobody has said anything about Dave at Farm-Aid. So I will. He was great! Opened up with Grace is Gone, and then Nancies which couldn't have made me happier. Somewhere inbetween Too Much (which really worked for Farm-Aid) and Gravedigger, Dave started saying some crazy stuff about "Good food is good, bad food is shit" in reference to the real farm food and the factory farm food. Where are You Going was ok, I've heard it too much lately to really get excited. Crush was amazing especially just being Dave, I hadn't expected it to be that good without the rest of the band. Then, oh yes, Bartender. Absolutely wonderful. Some more talk about "good food" and then he introduced Watchtower with "I've been playing this song too much lately, but I like it, so fuck it." Glad he wanted to play it because that was the best I'd ever seen it played, yes even though the other guys weren't there. After he was done, the guy next to me who was there to see Willy Nelson asked who Dave was, and told me he really thought he had talent. No shit. Woah, who is Dave? Anyway, overall, wonderful, about 40 minutes of Dave Matthews-y goodness.

Dan P.
This was my first time seeing Dave solo after attending 25 shows with the band. I have the bootleg from last years farm aid and this was pretty much the same show. However, it was live and in front of my face, so it makes it a lot better than the bootleg. First off, Dave seemed very rushed, he only took seconds between each song because his time was very limited. It was getting late and Neil, Willie, and John didn't even go on yet. Crush was great, he did the same bep bop scat thing in the middle as he did last farm aid. Watchtower - GREAT!! Full of energy and everything sounded perfect. Too Much, a great surprise, he kinda ended it differently from all the Dave solo Too Much's I have heard. Even though he only played for like 40 minutes, it was still worth the drive, I mean, DAVE SOLO, you gotta drive to see that!!!

Vogz32
what a night!!! dave put an on amazing acoustic set.. there wasn't a person sitting in the entire ampitheater. he came out strong with grace is gone into dancing nancies (was psyched to hear that one at souncheck). next a chilled too much with some wicked dave scat, then a incredible version of gravedigger! WOW! I could bore you with the setlist, but i just needed to say, dave made farmaid last night! he was the only artist to play solo, and man did he control the crowd..everyone was dancing and singing those sweet melodies right along. Dave aslo tripped me out with his "EAT GOOD FOOD" ramblings. This was my first dave solo experience, and it was simply a beautiful thing. Thanks dave!!

Pat S.
Wow, this show was definitely very unique, but awesome nonetheless. It was the first time I'd ever heard Dave play solo, and it was every bit as good as I expected. First off let me say that the entire concert itself was pretty awesome; highlights I thought were Kid Rock (even though everyone seems to hate him, I thought he was a great performer), Neil Young, and Willie and everyone at the end. Now to the performance we were all there to see: Grace was a great start, not really surprised by it being the opener (we actually called most of the songs - not that that was a bad thing though). Nancies was great, first time I've heard it live in any form. Next Too Much - just great - loved how the censors let the "fuck it up" slip by and the little improvs Dave added. Gravedigger was next, and it blew me away, and despite the fact that Dave messed up the "Ring around the rosie" part - he still smiled through it. Where are you going was pretty standard, but I think I like this better solo than full band. Next was Crush, great version, loved the improvs he did - best part had to be when I got on TV for about 5 seconds singing along to it :-). That led right into Bartender, which was sweet, too. Last, but not least in any bit, was a rockin performance of Watchtower. He missed a little of the verse, but the raw emotion at the end more than made up for any gliches. To sum it up, the entire performance as a whole, although shorter than band shows, was definitely unforgettable. The crowd (23,000+), especially in my section, was mainly there for Dave, and let him know it. All in all, the experience was priceless, and the price I did pay went to a great cause, so it was a win-win situation. And despite the sound problems they were having at the pavilion, I'm hoping Willie decides to bring em back next year!

Josh M.
This was my 27th Dave show and it was awesome. This was my first time ever going to a show where Dave played alone. My friend Chris and I drove from Keene, New Hampshire to catch the show. We must have listened to live Dave shows for a good 18 hours while riding in the truck. The show was worth the trip. The crowd was different from any other show I had ever been to. There were such a variety of fans, however, I'm going to say there were more Dave fans then any others. One of the opening songs had a chorus that went "I'll never smoke weed with Willie again". It was a pretty funny song. The crowd loved it. As for Dave's on stage performance....what can you say....He was exceptional. He started with a quick Where are you going tease and then went into GRACE IS GONE. After that was an unexpected DANCING NANCIES. Which is fantastic even without the band. Next was TOO MUCH. Dave did a little dancin for this one. GRAVEDIGGER was next....I love this song. Not many people knew the words. This made me sing louder. You know how it is for us non-radio fans. Then came a nice WHERE ARE YOU GOING. CRUSH was fantastic but BARTENDER was even better. He added an extra little verse on this one. Lastly, was WATCHTOWER. Excellent...I was hoping Neil would come out but the energy that Dave put into it made it just as good. I'm glad I went and it was worth the trip. Thank You for Driving Chris...lets do it again...OOOOOKKKKKKK. Heather...hopefully you'll be there next year. It' a good time. Love ya. KAO --- PEACE EVERYBODY

Charlie
WOW!! Dave was awesome. GIG was a nice opener. then Nancies came out of no where. it was awesome. everyone was singing and dancing, it was great. then Too Much, real nice slow funky version, it was nice to here it solo. all the older drunk people around me where feeling it, dancing and crap, fun times. then Gravedigger, call this one. Dave messed it up and laughed at him self. awesome song, sounds soo good as it is right now, dont think it needs much done to it. Where Are You Going was next, dave said somthing along the lines of "this song has different meanings at times..." or somthing like that. did get it. Crush was awesome, lots of skating in this one, the crowd went nuts when he was skatting away. Bartender was sooo good...he did the outro when he sings like a mad man...it was sooo powerfull, love that part of the song. i didnt think he was going to do it but he did and i was happy. and there was Watchtower...i think he skipped a few verses in the intro but oh well. this was sweet. i'm not a big fan of it solo but it was amazing...this had the most people dancing i saw all night (including kid rock) and its just him and a guitar....over all sweet sweet show. (i saw some one in the lawn with a video camamer but it wasnt until neil was on that i saw the guy so i dont know what he had tapped)

Jerrod F.
this was a very unique show for me and my buddy Nick. we've been to 10 shows now but this was the first without the rest of the band. dave did really well all by himself and he pulled out some favorites of mine. first off, grace is gone was predictable and a sweet version. everybody around us was singing along, having a good time. then i came pretty close to wetting my pants when i heard the beginning of dancing nancies...wow i'd waited so long to hear that song and although it was just dave it was still awesome as hell. he did a great job with the rest of the songs, notably too much and crush-some crazy scats there. anyone who hasn't been to farm-aid should definitely check it out next year, it's a really fun time...and neil young is my new hero. i've always loved him as a musician but now i love that guy as a person too. he was talking all about the purpose of farm-aid and convincing us that "Tyson sucks!" he had one hell of a set too. so go to farm aid, you'll see some great musicians (hot frisky drunk girls too).

Donnie
Great show at Farm Aid. All the performers were awesome, but Dave gave us a hell of a show. More Davespeak than we've been hearing lately, and a lot of it was cut. Mostly about eating good food because "good food is good... and bad food ain't shit." neil young explained that organic food was good food, as opposed to bad food being made in factory farms. Dave opened with GiG, and the crowd really got into it. Dancing Nancies was a nice surprise. We got some Davedance as well. Too Much was different... a few lines mumbled in the middle, i didn't catch it. Dave said something about "this is a quiet song... we haven't recorded it yet but some of y'all might have a tape of it..." then he started Gravedigger. He messed up the lines a little, singing "ashes to ashes" before "ring around the rosie." a few people laughed but most didn't catch it. then he paused for a second and grinned before starting the bridge over again. WAYG wasn't bad. All the songs were different because it was solo, and you could hear a difference in how he plays it now. Then he switched to a second Taylor guitar (Drop D)for Crush, which was amazing. He did a lot of scat and the crowd loved it. Hard to figure out what song it was at first without Stefan. Bartender was good, too. Then Dave switched back to the first Taylor for Watchtower. Didn't jam much but it had energy. Switched 'businessmen' to 'factory farmers'. I was hoping he'd come back out later to play Ain't It Funny with Willie... but he didn't. If you weren't there, definitely listen to a song Toby Keith played- "I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again."

Tony
There was a very different vibe at today's show than any other show I've attended, for obvious reasons. This was my first Farm Aid experience, and first Dave solo experience. The whole day was pretty cool seeing so many different artists and such a broad spectrum of people....from Kid Rock fans, to John Mellencamp, to Kenny Wayne Shepard, to Dave, to Willie, etc. But everyone mixed very well.....Ok onto Dave's performance. He was the act following Kid Rock, so it was quite a change in atmosphere. The sun had just set and everyone seemed ready for Dave to come out. All of us in the pavilion started chanting for Dave as he was about to come on, so I was psyched that so many people would be into it. He came on just after 7:30 to an explosive crowd, and got right into GRACE IS GONE. Nice opener, has that sort of country feel to it which fit perfectly. Then, exactly what I was hoping for, DANCING NANCIES. Highlight of the night for me. Very cool solo rendition. Everyone was singing along, pointing up to the sky at the right moments, just great. Then he pulled out a funky rendition of TOO MUCH. Thought that was nice to hear solo. GRAVEDIGGER came next. He introduced it as a song that he hasn't recorded yet, and said a couple other things. Standard version, same as over the summer. WAYG was next. I really like this song when he plays it solo. Just reminds me of when he first started playing it last fall, before it was recorded with the full band. Then came CRUSH. I love this song solo as well. My favorite part is when he starts scattin during Boyd's usual solo break, it was awesome. BARTENDER was great as well. Cool to hear so many people singing along, especially during the "bended knees" yelling. Then came the second big highlight of the night...WATCHTOWER. It was incredible. Loved hearing him do all that screaming at the end after a somewhat tame set. It seemed to end so much faster than any of the other acts. I was hoping for one more song after Watchtower, but I was not disappointed. Great solo performance, hope everyone got to see it on tv at least.

Katie C.
WOW! What an AMAZING show! Dave is so unbelievably talented... it's unreal. He came out strong with a great version of Grace is gone, then the highlight... DANCING NANCIES! it was INCREDIBLE! Everyone was dancing and into it! Too much was good but not as strong without the band... Gravedigger was awesome, it was good for us true fans not everyone knew the words... but it was a good version... i was disappointed he messed up the "ring around the roise" that's the best part of the song... but it's dave so it doesn't matter! Where are you going was standard... crush was awesome... BARTENDER was HUGE! i love that song! and watch tower was quality... i'm glad he like it so much he decided to "fuck it" lol i love dave it was an awesome show!

Amber
It swell. This was the first time Farm Aid got close enough to go and miss little school, so I jumped at the chance...Dave's set was very good. I kind of expected a Grace is Gone opener, Where are You Going, Crush, and AATW, but Gravedigger sounded beautiful and Dancing Nancies was a treat. Dave was talking up a storm about "Good food is good. Bad food is shit..." and so on, but the audience wasn't as gung-ho as he was and most of the people around me sat down, which was kind of expected because they were of an...older sect...and it wasn't like the music was wild. I was somewhat hoping for a Neil/Dave duet of Cortez....okay, I was dreaming more than hoping, but it Neil managed to be beautiful alone. All in all, a successful night...

Matt R.
It was an awsome performance as always. This ended my summer perfectly. 12 show this summer, and gotta love them all. It was definitly worth our 12 hour drive from Mass to goto Farmaid to see Dave. Hope ta see ya'all at the winter tour shows. Peace & Love Matt Holyoke, MA

Kyle
Dave played great. But was to rushed he hardly even had time to change guitars. I felt like that he is why most of the people came to the show so he should get extra time. I mean he is a member of the board. "Gravedigger" was by far the best song. And, "Too Much" was a classic. All in all it was a great show.

Jeff G.
Well I drove 11hrs to see dave and the rest of farm aid. I most certainly was not disappointed. The whole day rocked. Dave's performance was true Dave, hey was having fun. he screwed up on gravedigger but what the hell right, he aint perfect. He played a mello set but with only a guitar, what would you except. his improve on the crush solo was vintage Dave. He kept talking about Good Food and Bad Food. Good Food for me and should be for all. Dave rocked with bartender and watchtower. I love hearing dave sing bartender(AHH!12-5-00 memories)Watchtower may not be a original, but he makes sound like it is. Overall it waas well worth the travel to see Dave play for us all. Take care to all and Just Remember Peace Is The Way To Go.