dmb6743
06-29-2004, 08:21 PM
well, since i was at this show, and its in my paper, i thought i'd show it to ya....
Dave Matthews Band
Celebratory. That was the feel of the Dave Matthews Band's Sunday night show at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. At least one fan called the DMB's Saturday Pavilion show "mellow" as the group worked out new songs and reached for deep album tracks. In contrast, the Sunday show luxuriated in the large -- big hits, hooks and music abounded.
The opening salvo, "What Would You Say," set the tone. DMB blasted out their breakthrough hit, gang vocals and push/pull rhythms intact. "Too Much" didn't stray far from its recorded version, either, but it did inspire Matthews' first knock-kneed, floppy-legged dancing. "Don't Drink the Water," moving along to violinist Boyd Tinsley's Celtic/country flourishes, received an absolutely ecstatic reaction. The sun sank during the tune, accentuating the dark title phrase Matthews barked and spat out during the coda.
The new material DMB unveiled for fans Sunday ran the stylistic gamut. "Hmm" felt like a lost staple of 1970s AM radio, with its elliptical minor key riffing and electric piano solo. What might be titled "Joyride" stretched from funk to a dramatic bridge full of major chords and high, drawn-out vocal notes. Only an early-set workout, perhaps to be dubbed "Too Much of a Good Thing," felt half-baked; the guitar run at the heart of the song is a winner but never changed or alternated with other melodies.
Not every song in the set was short and sweet by any means. Bassist Stefan Lessard added a weepy steel guitar introduction to "Grace is Gone," and Leroi Moore brought the song to its climax with a gorgeous soprano sax solo before the entire band dived into a final groove reminiscent of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider."
Before encores of "Dancing Nancies" and "Stay," DMB closed the set proper with a nearly 20-minute-long version of "Two Step" that initially set the crowd rocking, then built back up from a hush through Carter Beauford's musical, muscular drumming. How many other groups could insert a quiet jazz breakdown into the middle of a crowd-pleaser and find fans clapping along rather than scratching their heads?
"Jimi Thing" featured Matthews' most unusual performance. Earlier, Matthews had called the concert's opening act, Keller Williams, "pretty amazing to watch and pretty inspirational." And Matthews proved that during "Jimi" by copping some of Williams' signature style, performing a vocal that found him imitating DJ scratching, guitar, bass and drum sounds complete with wild gestures and faces. Afterward, Beauford slapped Matthews' hand in appreciation and with laughter over such unrestrained vocal bravado. Such camaraderie and gusto defined the DMB's final-night performance.
-- Review by John Young, for the Post-Gazette
Dave Matthews Band
Celebratory. That was the feel of the Dave Matthews Band's Sunday night show at the Post-Gazette Pavilion. At least one fan called the DMB's Saturday Pavilion show "mellow" as the group worked out new songs and reached for deep album tracks. In contrast, the Sunday show luxuriated in the large -- big hits, hooks and music abounded.
The opening salvo, "What Would You Say," set the tone. DMB blasted out their breakthrough hit, gang vocals and push/pull rhythms intact. "Too Much" didn't stray far from its recorded version, either, but it did inspire Matthews' first knock-kneed, floppy-legged dancing. "Don't Drink the Water," moving along to violinist Boyd Tinsley's Celtic/country flourishes, received an absolutely ecstatic reaction. The sun sank during the tune, accentuating the dark title phrase Matthews barked and spat out during the coda.
The new material DMB unveiled for fans Sunday ran the stylistic gamut. "Hmm" felt like a lost staple of 1970s AM radio, with its elliptical minor key riffing and electric piano solo. What might be titled "Joyride" stretched from funk to a dramatic bridge full of major chords and high, drawn-out vocal notes. Only an early-set workout, perhaps to be dubbed "Too Much of a Good Thing," felt half-baked; the guitar run at the heart of the song is a winner but never changed or alternated with other melodies.
Not every song in the set was short and sweet by any means. Bassist Stefan Lessard added a weepy steel guitar introduction to "Grace is Gone," and Leroi Moore brought the song to its climax with a gorgeous soprano sax solo before the entire band dived into a final groove reminiscent of the Allman Brothers' "Midnight Rider."
Before encores of "Dancing Nancies" and "Stay," DMB closed the set proper with a nearly 20-minute-long version of "Two Step" that initially set the crowd rocking, then built back up from a hush through Carter Beauford's musical, muscular drumming. How many other groups could insert a quiet jazz breakdown into the middle of a crowd-pleaser and find fans clapping along rather than scratching their heads?
"Jimi Thing" featured Matthews' most unusual performance. Earlier, Matthews had called the concert's opening act, Keller Williams, "pretty amazing to watch and pretty inspirational." And Matthews proved that during "Jimi" by copping some of Williams' signature style, performing a vocal that found him imitating DJ scratching, guitar, bass and drum sounds complete with wild gestures and faces. Afterward, Beauford slapped Matthews' hand in appreciation and with laughter over such unrestrained vocal bravado. Such camaraderie and gusto defined the DMB's final-night performance.
-- Review by John Young, for the Post-Gazette