Jabber
One word...... AWESOME !!!!! First off, don't miss Emmylou Harris. She was Classic. 2 of the members of her band are Dave's "Friends" - bassist Tony Hall & drummer Brady Blade, Jr. I didn't know many of her songs and I enjoyed her/them just the same. She ended up her set with The Maker. - - - - After the brief intermission, Dave & Tim came out and cruised through an awesome set of DMB tunes. They were hot !!! I've never seen D&T before so I was floored. My friends who've seen D&T twice before said they've never seen Tim so into it. ROCK SOLID PERFORMANCE!!!!!! After another quick intermission which Dave said was to "look for his friends" and allow us to "take a leak or something, the full band came on and provided us all with a fantastic evening of great MUSIC which after all is what its all about. The band's jams had a harder edge than what we've been accustomed to and really rocked out several times during the night. Every one of them seemed to really get into it more and more as the night progressed. Jams were cool and electric guitar oriented as you would expect from 2-3 great guitarists. To me it seemed like Dave kept trying to pull more & more out of Trey as Trey seemed to hold back out of mutual respect for all the other musicians. The Some Devil tunes were cool and really branched out into some excellent jams. ie: Gravedigger--->Grey Blue Eyes. Everyone leaves the stage as Dave does an emotional "Some Devil" on his baritone guitar to a "can hear a pin drop" audience. Quite the passionate moment. - - - - As far as the encore goes, it would have been great if they had flip-flopped the last two songs. Will It Go Round was really up and So Damn Lucky was not as "up" so he left us go on a lower note than we had been earlier if you get my drift . We thought for sure he would do another song after So Damn Lucky but we weren't "So Damn Lucky. For some reason, he has a tendency to do that at State College. The year before w/ DMB, April 5th, his last song was "I Did It". Oh well. Overall it was an awesome show !!!!! I am curious to see how different each D&F show will be and what covers they'll pull out. Cripple Creek and Hey Bulldog were very enjoyable and great jams.

Betsy W.
This was an amazing, once in a lifetime experience. I've never seen an opening night show before, let alone Dave & Tim, and then Trey, Dave, & Tim. Seriously, if you had the chance to go and didn't, you should be very upset with yourself. After the show, I heard lots of mixed reviews coming from friends, but being the DMB addict that I am, I took it all with a grain of salt since a lot of those people couldn't really judge a Dave Matthews performance... I'm not claiming to be an expert either, though. Anyways, I thought the D&T set was great. I was a bit overwhelmed b/c I couldn't believe I was seeing that, but Tim's work was incredible to watch. He's got incredibly toned arms, I'm guessing from all that work he does on stage. Crush and Nancies were my favorites... especially when Dave slipped in "Could I have been lost somewhere in Texas?" The people around me were a bit upset he didn't say Penn State or State College or whatever, but I'm from Texas so I enjoyed it. Then Dave brough out his friends who were AWESOME. Hats off to Trey for an amazing performance. I felt like I was watching a tennis match, constantly flipping back and forth between Tim and Trey b/c they were both so dynamic to watch. Trey sang lots of vocals both lead and backing, a nice surprise b/c I love his style and intonations. The covers were SO well selected, so snaps to that. I recommend everyone get their hands on this show. And of course, the Some Devil songs were great to hear live... Some Devil with just Dave and the electric blew my mind, so passionate; Stay or Leave made me want to cry, it is so gorgeous on the CD then hearing it live and seeing the emotions are just mind boggling; I can't remember the drummer's name right now but he was great. I feel like the percussion was louder live than on the CD which made the songs so much more intense. It was just amazing. I don't know what else to say except GET THE CDS! Oh, I also saw robotic cameras on stage soooo DVD? I hope.

C D.
I really didn't know what to expect coming into this tour, but I must say that tonight was a pretty amazing show. Dave and Tim solo was excellent as always (Tim was on fire), and when the entire band came out they put it down and looked like they were having a hell of a time doing it. There was an eclectic mix of great cover tunes all played to perfection. They really helped break up the set so that it was upbeat and not all straight from the Some Devil record. During the full band set, Tim was using his unique abilities to provide all sorts of different fills on the guitar, and Trey was ripping it as usual, much to Dave's amusement. Trey also added a lot with his vocals and the entire band looked and sounded like they were really in sync and had been playing together for a while. It was great to see Dave, Tim, and Trey all on stage together jamming out, and I would have to say that Dodo was the highlight of the evening. If you have the means, I would highly recommend seeing these guys play together this tour. It truely was an amazing night.

Jim F.
This was amazing!!!! I can't even explain in words what this show was like. I loved the fact that Dave and Tim started out together solo acoustic, it brought me in and made it a much more intimate feel. Plus it served as a great contrast so that when "the friends" came out it seemed all the more alive. The only cover i knew was Salsbury Hill yet it didn't matter. Every song was booming with sound, and every note was played with feel. Tim and Trey especially stole the show, and it just seemed like Dave was happy to sing the lyrics and watch the amazing musicians around him do their thing. He hardly played guitar on multiple songs. But with the end of almost every song dave was screaming at the drummer (or basist, or keyboardist) that the song was "BAD ASS!!" The friendship of everyone on stage really stood out and i just hope i get to see another one of these shows!

Zac
An excellent frist ever Dave Matthews and Freinds show. What a way to kick off the tour, full of jammed out Some Devil songs and some great covers. Dave and Tim started the show off with a short acoustic set. Then the full band came out and rocked the house. Dave and Tim: BARTENDER opened, which was predictable but good none the less. Dave was great on vocals on this one, as he usually is on Bartender. This is one of the few songs that I actaully perfer D&T over DMB. Good way to start. CRUSH came next, the most jammed out song on the Dave and Tim set. Tim was excellent especailly towards the end. THE STONE followed. It was the first time I have heard it, very good. After this song Dave mumbled something about 'playing a few more than going to find their friends'. The next song played was LIE IN OUR GRAVES. This was a real treat, just spectacular. This was Tim at his finest. The things that man can do with an acoustic guitar are amazing. I was really hoping to hear this one, and was not let down by any means. DANCING NANCIES closed this mini set. It was also a predictable setcloser, but didn't let down. I perfer this one full band. Dave and Friends: SAVE ME opened the band's set and was just electric. Excellent energy and a good choice for the opener of their first real show together. STAY OR LEAVE followed. Ray's intro was very good, and one of the few times in the night where he stood out. It was a very mellow song, but at the end picked up and the crowd got real into it. Trey was fantastic. Then we got our first surprise of the night, a cover of Peter Gabriel's SOLSBURY HILL. Dave was great on this one, I also really enjoyed the lighting on it. An excellent cover. TROUBLE brought them back into the Some Devil songs and was excellent. I was pleasantly surprised considering it is one of my least favorites from the album. It was one of the most jammed out songs of the night. Trey was great. It was one of the highlights of the night. GRAVEDIGGER>>>GREY BLUE EYES was next. The only seque of the night but it flowed from one to the other quite well. Dave was going off on Gravedigger, he was real intense and one of the best sung songs of the night. Trey took over on GBE. Next comes the second cover of the night, and the first song Trey sung lead on, UP ON CRIPPLE CREEK. Dave introduced Trey and said he was gonna sing one for us, and the crowd went nuts. I had never heard this song before and had no idea what it was, but it was good to hear Trey take the lead. I would have perfered to hear him sing a Phish song, but this was nice too. After that the band all left and Dave was on stage by himself, which could mean only one thing, SOME DEVIL. Dave really soudned good with the electric guitar on this one. It was a slow mellow one, a good break from the high energy set. The band came back onstage and played OH. This one was short, and alot like the album version, except with Trey. UP AND AWAY was the next one. It was one of the most jammed out of the night and another highlight of the show. Tim really tore this one up. My favorite Some Devil song of the night. AMERICAN TUNE, a Paul Simon cover, was played next. I don't really remember this one, so it must not have been that good. Next came TOO HIGH. I was wondering how this one would sound without the strings and horns form the album, but it was just great. If you closed your eyes you could have sworn they was an orchestra their. Brady was great on this one. DODE came next and was one of the corwd favorites. It was the most jammed out song of the night. HEY BULLDOG closed the set. They jammed well to it, but it was probably my least favorite cover of the night. WILL IT GO ROUND IN CIRCLES, the Billy Preston cover, was the first encore song. This was my favorite song of the night. Dave and Trey traded verses. Good jamming at the end. SO DAMN LUCKY closed up the encore. It was a good way to end the show. I would have liked Trey to have a bigger solo on this one. Overall this was a great show. The crowd really surprised me, they were quite during the D&T set, and thast a rarity. Also I did not hear one person yell out a song they wanted to hear the entire time! Brady really impressed me with his drumming skills. I would have liked to hear some longer jams and more Tim or Trey solos. I also would have liked to hear Trey do at least one Phish or TAB song. All the covers were good and the Some Devil songs really came together live. This was a great way to start the tour!

Mattbrown521
The opening show of the D&F tour exceeded all expectations. It was fresh, smart, and virtuosic. When Dave and Timmy took the stage alone and started playing Bartender, I knew that it was well worth the drive and the money. The show was basically two for the price of one, with Dave and Tim's set being a snapshot of all the good stuff from earlier this year. The Friends portion rocked royally, with both jammed out Some Devil cuts as well as unexpected and wonderful covers. I felt priveleged to be a part of this new step in Dave's career, as the evening was beyond wonderful. It was superb.

Matt S.
While watching Dave & Tim storytellers on VH 1 a few years back, some friends and I were musing about how Trey would fare in the mix. Trey and Dave have both appeared at each other's shows over the years as most should know. (Summer '95 Phish w/ Dave & Leroi who jammed three little birds was sweet)Dave & Friends began with Emmylou Harris & Spyboy whom Dave greatly admires. My Dad who is 35 years my senior at 62, fit in well with the contigency of Emmylou fans in the crowd, but he wanted to hear Dave, Timmmy, & Trey. Dave opened with 5 tunes with Timmy on 12-string. Moments of frenzy followed Timmy's strums at times and Dave's voice was powerful. And then the nite went electric. I very much enjoyed the show, as did my father. I've been seeing DMB since '94 (29 shows and looking forward to the DMB festival for 30!)and this is fresh Dave for ya... Dave & Friends was a fun, new, and rockin' nite. The studio material mixed with covers was good stuff. Kind to the ears for the young and old. The musicians looked like they were having fun and each will keep the music world growing by returning to their repective groups/projects a better musician after the Dave & Friends tour. Thanks fellas, thank you emmylou.