Dave Matthews Band
Wednesday September 24, 2003
Central Park; New York, NY
I: jam, Don?t Drink the Water, So Much To Say > Anyone Seen The Bridge? > Too Much, Granny, Crush, When The World Ends, Dancing Nancies > Warehouse, Ants Marching, Rhyme & Reason, Two Step, Help Myself, Cortez The Killer*, Jimi Thing*, What Would You Say, Where Are You Going, Bass Solo/Star Spangled Banner > All Along The Watchtower
E: Grey Street, What You Are, Stay
* with Warren Haynes on guitar.---
Where should I start??
It\'s not every day that I come home from a concert and write a review. Usually, I\'ll only write a review if the show was really really good, or really really bad. Today, I am writing a review of the Dave Matthews Band performance at Central Park on September 24, 2003. This one falls into the \'really really good\' category. In fact, it was possibly the best concert I\'ve ever seen in my life.
It had been nearly five years since the last time I had seen DMB - Madison Square Garden in December 1998. I believe it was my 16th DMB show. I walked out halfway through that show, and never looked back. I had become disgusted with the scene surrounding the band, as it had become mostly dizzy drunken kids who are there just to get wasted. But enough about that - this is a positive review.
Since then, I\'ve filled my time seeing other bands - 86 Phish shows, 150+ Psychedelic Breakfast, 8 Pearl Jam, 6 Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc, etc... I\'d still keep tabs on DMB - checking setlists, downloading shows, etc, but it was unlikely that I\'d ever bring myself to go to another DMB show again.
Then a couple weeks ago, DMB announced a free (charity) show in Central Park - the AOL Concert For Schools. Current ticket prices are another thing that has kept me away from DMB, and I felt that if I was ever going to see this band live again, this would be the show to go to. There were approximately 100,000 people expected, and I knew that it could either end up being great, or turning into a nightmare. Tickets for non-fan club members were only available for about a day, and I was able to snag two, for my wife and I.
Doors were set to open at 3:00, with the show starting around 7:30. We got in line to get in around 2:50, and it took about an hour and a half for us to get all the way in. We made our way onto the Great Lawn, and I was blown away by the setup that they had. It was amazing - biggest stage I\'ve ever seen, with 3 big screens above it.. 4 huge video screens spread out on the lawn, almost on their own \'stages\' with their own lights, speakers, and smoke effects.. Cameras *everywhere*... WOW! I was surprised at how close we were able to get. We snagged some real estate on the lawn, and laid down to chill. It was about 73? and sunny - absolutely perfect weather! And so the long wait begins...
Around 6:20, everyone decided to stand up and rush the stage. We didn\'t really want anything to do with that, because we wanted to be able to spread out and dance, and be able to see and enjoy the show. So while everyone was moving up and cramming in, we moved back to a nice open area in the front section, right in front of one of the video screens, with plenty of dancing room, and a clear view of the stage from a far. The Frank Sinatra School Of The Arts choir opened up the show by singing a great rendition of our National Anthem, and DMB took the stage around 7:30.
They opened with a short, quiet jam, before they busted in with an energetic \'Don\'t Drink The Water\'. A typical opener at a DMB show, but an absolutely perfect way to get things going and get the crowd pumped. I found myself dancing immediately, with a huge smile on my face. It was SO good to be seeing this band again, and rocking to the insane beats of my favorite drummer. I knew right off the bat that this would be an incredible night!
The dancing wasn\'t stopping anytime soon with \'So Much To Say\' into an incredibly funky jam, \'Anyone Seen The Bridge\', which led right into a powerful \'Too Much\'. My smile was still going ear to ear, and I just could not believe what I was seeing. The band was on fire, playing some of the tightest jams I\'ve ever heard in my life.
Things slowed down a little bit for the classic \'Granny\', which I was very happy to hear. This was followed by a slow, funky \'Crush\', with a tremendous R&B style pocket laid down by Carter and Stefan. I\'m not a big fan of \'When The World Ends\', so this was kind of a break for me. DMB then played four classics off of their \'Under The Table And Dreaming\' album, which for me was highlighted with \'Dancing Nancies\' > \'Warehouse\'. \'Help Myself\' was another surprise that I was happy to hear, and then DMB was joined by a special guest - Warren Haynes.
Warren absloutely shredded the guitar during a great version of Neil Young\'s \'Cortez The Killer\', featuring Warren and Dave on vocals, and kept it on for a ripping jammed-out version of DMB\'s \'Jimi Thing\', with Buffalo Springfield\'s \'For What It\'s Worth\' (stop, hey, what\'s that sound, everybody look what\'s goin\' down) tagged on at the end. WOW!
More from UTTAD with \'What Would You Say\', before slowing it down with \'Where Are You Going\'. Stefan then started a bass solo, and we knew what was next, but not before he played his own version of \'The Star Spangled Banner\' on the bass. Dave then joined him to start off the cute little baby \'All Along The Watchtower\' which developed into a raging monster before long. Perfect way to close the set - balls to the wall, the same way it started.
At this point, we started to make our way to the exit, as I needed to be on a train home if I wanted a cool 3 hours sleep before waking up for work. We heard \'Grey Street\' on the way out, which I was pretty pist to be missing, but it was loud enough to keep me grooving on the exit. That was the last we heard, so I\'ll have to wait for the DVD to hear the rest.
Anyways, I haven\'t felt this way after a concert in a long time. All the stars were aligned, and everything was in its right place. It was the biggest stage/production/setup I\'d ever seen, there was perfect weather, we were in the most beautiful park in the best city in the world, the sound and lights were amazing, and the band was absolutely on fire. Plus the crowd was well behaved overall, due to the fact that there was no alcohol, and I think that was one of the main reasons why I was able to enjoy the show so much.
Best show I\'ve ever seen? Possible. Very possible. It was great to see this band again, and what they did was one of the coolest things that any band has ever done. This show brought back all the *good* reasons why I used to go see DMB so much, and I\'m incredibly grateful to have been a part of that.
So, if you\'re still reading, congrats! You made it. I\'m done.
