Evan J.
Tough show to grade, since there are two ways of looking at it. "The show by itself, disregarding all else this year"-->B+. "All Things Considered"-->C. Woodlands got shafted on multiple levels this year. DMB wanted an easy touring schedule, but obviously didn't want to play 2 dates outdoors in Houston during July. They've done May and Sept dates the last few years. Not this time. Middle of the week, one show, and it felt like just-another-stop kind of a show. Stay, STJL, Cry Freedom, SMTS-->-->Rapunzel were all nice to hear, but compared to other shows, we didn't get anything special. Mundane encore. Average energy (except for set closer). No "wow" moments. I'm certain plenty will say this was an awesome, must-have show. It certainly wasn't bad in any way. No dead moments. But I promise you anyone that was thrilled by this show only sees them once or twice a year. Which is a cool thing. Setlist watchers won't give this show a second thought.

Betsy W.
Sad to only have one show in Houston this year, but happy to see Hurricane Claudette faded earlier than expected to leave the show alone and only leave the hill horribly muddy. Unfortunately, I have no insane semi-stalker stories this year as we tried to attend the concert like a normal person. I quickly learned I can't handle that, I need a challenge. Anyways, a very upbeat setlist, not too many slow ones. "#41" had a nice jam where they'd stop completely, allowing for some quality crowd participation via specially timed WOOO's. The seats cleared out during "If I Had It All" for a beer run, bathroom break, or what have you. After that song, Carter had some technical difficulties causing Dave to burst out laughing during the extremely long break. They came back with "Grey Street" so all was forgiven... and a very kickass version of "GS" nonetheless. "Kit Kat Jam" was a huge surprise, especially with lyrics. I was praying to god we'd be lucky enough to catch "Pay for What You Get" or "The Dreaming Tree," but I guess "Cry Freedom" will suffice. According to this wild guy from Ohio in front of me, the "SMTS" > "PNP" > "Rapunzel" combo was a first ever... but I don't know about that. That's about it. This concert didn't do much to shake up my Top 5 DMB shows, but how can you ever say it wasn't good? Keeping my fingers crossed for a Fall/Winter solo Dave tour....

TonyDPM
This being my 10th DMB show, I felt it would be a good time to give a review of a show, so here we go. First off, the weather cooperated, which was a concern leading up to the concert, and I had great seats (7th row, center). The show, however, ranks in the bottom half of the 10 I've seen. But, when you consider the standard that these guys have set, that's still not too bad. It seemed that they, in a lot of ways, mailed this one in, which is rare for them, especially in Houston, where they have always had great shows and a lot of energy. Maybe the scheduling caught up with them, because they seemed a little sluggish, and had more than their share of technical problems. Leroi's sax was hardly audible unless he was doing a solo, and the band's playing wasn't as tight as normal, with obvious tempo and pacing errors in Rapunzel and DAD. The setlist was pretty good, though. Great to hear Stone, RAR, STJL, 41 in order, and heard a couple I had not heard in concert before (KKJ w/ lyrics and a beautiful Cry Freedom). SMTS moved right into PNP/Rapunzel, which was great. The highlight was definately the encore, with an awesome rendition of Two Step. Looking forward to a great show in San Antonio on Saturday.

Squatty
Houston---only being able to enjoy one night of the Dave Matthews Band, its a little disappointing. Hopefully next year we are rewarded with an early summer double treat--like last year. Opened with Everyday, crowd got excited in the middle of the song, but of course it was the first song. The stone and Rhyme and Reason followed and Dave got into the chorus' of both and added a little tease with his dancing. Next was Song That Jane Likes--what a treat. Alot of people saw this as an early bathroom break, but the song was very well done. Nice to hear #41 and Too Much, a forever crowd fav, and If I Had It All. Nothing like hearing Grey Street LIVE. Dave then broke out KIT KAT JAM with words, what a surprise! Cry freedom sombered the mood a bit, but it was refreshing...then came an unbelievable Crush...each took a solo, then Boyd and Stefan battled inches apart, Dave did some serious dancing towards the end of the long instrumental that ended with Carter wailing away on the drums. Best Crush I have ever seen. Alot will say that Dave did not put on the best show this year, but I can say he likes playing CWMP in The Woodlands. Crush was followed by Stay--nothing real special. Crowd sang along to Where Are You Going, and then we got a little SMTS. Pantala Naga Pampa -->Rapunzel was done reasonable well, Dave again did some serious dancing, as we got a few more solo's from the band. Encore started with Digging A Ditch which was great to here, but i would have loved Granny or Warehouse. Finally Too Much, a usual suspect to end the show, was still pretty good, but not as great as in years past. Overall, pretty average show, I think Houston deserves another round on the Winter tour, when the weather is cooler and Dave and the band can play as they did in years past in Houston.

Drew
Well the other people arn't too thrilled with the show. I had 5th row center, and I typicaly go to one/two shows a year. That was the best concert I have ever been to. True he could have given out a little more energy but I don't want to focus on the bad. The Two Step was amazing, didn't have a watch, but it was most likely a good 12 minutes long. Great Show.

Phillip M.
I absolutely loved this show---with love being the key word. As a young college kid, I can't afford to go to 7 or 8 shows on a single tour....I have to catch them when they are in town. And tonight, they were awesome. You could definitely feel the theme Dave was working: LOVE. From Everyday straight through to Two Step, with Cry Freedom, Stay, and Crush being great stops in between, Dave wanted us to feel good and "take care of each other" as best we could. GREAT energy, for a crowd who suffered through ridiculous heat and humidity. With the exception of all the beer drinkers around me who seemed to know only a few songs but more than a few beer brands, I felt like everyone really enjoyed the show (especially my friend, who'd never seen them play but is a HUGE fan--it was his b-day). Overall, great, great, great energy from the band....absolutely loved seeing them. SEE YA IN SELMA!

DMBTex10101
Well, all these people saying the show was average, because it did not have The Last Stop or The Dreaming tree, I have to ask, what show were you watching. There was so much energy, and every song was jammed like no other. Dave was dancing like crazy, and scattin in most songs, it was amazing. highlights, were The Stone, the wonderfully unexpected Song That Jane Likes, #41 which had some sort of stop time outro, that rocked the place. If you were paying attention Dave wasnt prepared for the stop-time, its almost as if carter was just messing with him. Too Much had the extended jam again, and lots of Dave dancing. If I Had It All was more powerful than I expceted, Grey Street was truncated . . . grrrr, Kit Kat Jam had the plastic Asshole lyrics, Cry Freedom was amazing, and Crush Boyd just keep going and going, they kept playing the little part where boyd was supposed to stop his solo, but he wouldnt stop, he just keep going and going, Leroi kept getting ready to play then Boyd would play more, it was truely amazing, I guess he was gettin Leroi back cuz he did the same thing on 41. Stay was nicely added, and Butch and Carter (the new lovely ladies) were hilarious. WAYG - Meh, SMTS->ASTB->PNP->Rapunzel was freekin beautiful, I dont see how they pull it off, I'd heard it before on tape, but this was truely amazing, and Rapunzel was SO jammed out, tons of dancing. Then the encore, Diggin a Ditch was nothing special, Dave was switching the chorus and the verse a lot, throwing all the sing-a-long-ers off, then Two Step. This song was amazing. They played the original song with the stefan solo at the beginning, then the lyrics then Butch got his solo, like normal, then Dave started messing around w/his Guitar, then Carter took a little bit of a solo, which was awesome, then Dave messed around a little more, and pointed at Boyd, Boyd gave him a goofy look and then shook his head as if to say "OK" and then he started plucking a solo on Two Step, it was great, the whole band was into it, after Boyd finished Stefan took yet another solo, but a shorter one, then carter with another amazing drum solo right into the last part of the song which ended it. This show was great, the band was definately on, and they were having fun, they were messing with each other all night, Stefan kept playing little riffs in between all the songs, could be teases, I couldnt tell, but it was great, Hope it wasnt too long.

David T.
Not much negative can be found in any DMB performance, however, they have so much stuff that it would take them days to play everything I want to hear! This was my 13th DMB band show and the 3rd time in the pit and I have to say they are still improving as a band, even on older songs. Carter was on fire tonight, especially on Two Step. That guy never fails to amaze me. On a side note, Dave made the concert very special for one little boy on the front row that was probably about 10 years old. He gave him his pick and some other things and acknowledged him a lot during the show. Carter followed up by handing the kid his sticks. All around me in the pit were touched by Dave's obvious compassion for the kid, who is no-doubt a fan for life.

Travis M.
A good show, not a great show like we're accustomed to in Houston. Everyday was a great opener. The setlist was OK. I could have done without R&R, IIHIA. Digging a Ditch killed every bit of enthusiasm that was built up during the break after the main set. The boys did a stop time jam at the end of #41 which was pretty cool. Two Step is always a great way to end a show. Hopefully the boys will pick up some steam in big D tomorrow after a day off!

Cody
The Woodlands turned out to be a great show. I do see multiple shows a year and this one was not a bad one. Carter was on fire, he lit up that stage, I've never seen him play so well. Boyd was in tune and out of control, the best I've seen him. Looking at the setlist you would think this show was not that great, but being there was a different story, I could not stop dancing! They really had the crowd going with ASTB(best version I've seen live). All and all it was a good show, they really are showing their fans how great of a band they are this tour, and I am excited to see what other treats they have for me! Oh and by the way.....Dave Bramhall(?) sucked the big one, he's horrible, he took the trophy from Macy Gray as the WORST opener ever. wow.

Amity
Well, there's no doubt that tonights show was great; however, my last 3 shows were 3.29.03, 12.21.02, and 12.20.02, which leaves me completely UNable to say "Wow!! That was the best show ever!!!", like I'm sure so many others will. That being said, I did have tons of fun!! I know I'm a spoiled rotten groupie, and I'll just have to get over the fact that my 18th show provided a very...how can I put this nicely...nice set for someone who has only seen them twice! Okay, enough bitching...now to the show! I was pretty convinced they'd open with The Stone, so it took me by big surprise when they started twiddling around with Watchtower...or so I thought. Teasers--I hate it when they do that!! Everyday totally threw me off! So they start playing and I'm like "gimme some hani hani...come on #36..." Negative! They went straight into everyday, which isn't a bad thing, but did somewhat disappoint me. They took it into 36 at the end, giving us one, maybe two verses of Hani Hani. Not enough in my opinion, but like I said, I'm spoiled. Next was a very nice Stone (missed it by one), but nothing really special or different about it. R&R next...good stuff...I've seen it a lot but never really get sick of it. I was listening to see if Dave would sing "why do I drink & drink & drink...or drink & smoke & get fucked up..." but all he sang was "drink & smoke." I'm not complaining...it just kind of took me by surprise. They stopped & Dave came up to the mic and said "I gotta sister named Jane"...I started screaming..."this is the song that Jane likes." Does he ever just play it, or has that intro just become part of the song? (I tried to call you AJ!) I figured they'd throw in some rain songs because of hurricane Claudette (which Dave never mentioned), so 41 didn't come as a big surprise to me. What did surprise me was the very cool stop time outro. I've never heard it played that way before...nice stuff. They were stopping, we were yelling "Woo!"...this lasted for a couple minutes...I just kept thinking it was a PERFECT opportunity for them to throw it into Warehouse, but no, they're teasers. Too Much is always good stuff, but I've seen it a zillion times...went to get a beer. IIHIA...got another beer, bumped into a couple of buddies, & ended up hanging out with them off to the side of the stage until KKJ. Cry Freedom was nice; the only bad part is that so many people sat down. Crush was great as usual, but it's always better when you've got some babe dancing next to you...oh well...I've got 6 more shows this year! Stay & WAYG would have been better if they were The Dreaming Tree & Last Stop, but again, these are things we cannot change. SMTS is always fun, and I expected ASTB-->Ants since they already played TM, so the Bridge-->PNP-->Rapunzel was a very nice surprise indeed. The encore was much better than I expected...I'll definitely take DAD & Two Step over GIG & WYA. You gotta love a Two Step closer...makes the encore last a LOT longer! :) Overall, the boys sounded great, looked happy, danced a lot, smiled a lot...they're definitely still having fun up there. I'm still pretty bitter that we got shafted on the 2 night deal, and I know that after 18 shows it's hard for me to hear something new, but with Say Goodbye & The Dreaming Tree & The Last Stop & Minarets going around, I was convinced that I'd get something I haven't seen yet. I did have a lot of fun (how could you not?)...just can't wait for Selma, Camden, Hershey, Nashville, & Atlanta. See y'all there!! Happy touring!! :)

Michael I.
DMB playing only one show in houston this year,hmm interesting.Any way it sold out so i was expecting a whole lot more energy but not a bad show by any lengths overall."Everyday",not the opener i expected,didn't do much to get the crowd in but the stone is always gracious to hear live.R "n" R, had massive amounts of energy so that was fun.#41 had the most awesome jam especially toward the end when the band goes into an excellent stop time jam.Beautifull.Grey street was top par as always and kit kat jam with lyrics included was a treat.By the time "stay" rolled around i thought it was over already 'cos they played it with so much energy but all was well with the world when they decided they had 4 more songs for houston.Most definitely the highlight of the night was hearing dave scat and the transition to the so much to say-pantala-rapunzel (ref so much to say - too much from live in chicago )jam was out of this world.the encore was acceptable with "d.a.d" and an awesomely jammed version of two step.not a very radio friendly set list but thats perfectly fine with me though.not the best dmb show i've seen either but i'd rate this a 3.5 out of 5.But another magical dmb experience.