Show Review

The last time Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds hit the road for an all acoustic tour, The Dave Matthews band was just hitting its stride as one of the premier touring acts around. This past Wednesday marked the beginning of the highly anticipated second installment of the "Dave &Tim" show.

When Dave Matthews &Tim Reynolds took the stage this past Thursday night at the University of Rhode Island Ryan Center, the only exposure most of the crowd had to this type of acoustic Dave Matthews show was from the double-cd "Live from Luther College" released following the last Dave &Tim tour in 1999. As a result, it took a while for the crowd to realize that the atomosphere of this performance was going to be more like a night at a Broadway play rather than a rock concert. Once the crowd settled into the mood, they were treated to a stellar performance by a pair of truly incredible musicians.

Dave &Tim came on stage around 7:45pm and opened the show with a great version of "Bartender" off the Dave Matthews Band lastest studio album, Busted Stuff. As the show prgressed, the crowd quickly realized that this was a "shut up and listen" rather than a "get up and dance" show. But as Dave said, "..you have to mill around a bit before you can play Parcheesi.." Highlights from the first part of the show included "When the World Ends" with an extended outro and "Drive In Drive Out" followed by "Lie In Our Graves". Prior to "When the World Ends", Dave made the first of several references to the war in Iraq.

Halfway through the show marked the first of two solos on the night from Tim Reynolds. As one of the people in the crowd who has only experienced Tim on CD, I was pleasantly suprised at what a fabulous guitarist he really is. His selection for this solo was a stunning medley of CSNY songs including "After the Gold Rush" and "Ohio".

When Dave came back on stage, the energy level picked up a bit as Dave &Tim busted into crowd favorites "Typical Situation", "Crush" and "Everyday". Following "Everyday" were two of my favorites "Seek Up" into "Grace is Gone". The show ended with a stellar version of "Dancing Nancies" followed by a three song encore of "Cry Freedom", "Don't Drink the Water" and "Ants Marching" to close a nearly three and a half hour performance.

Throughout the show Dave talked in between just about every song. While he was quite entertaining at times, his ramblings seemed to go nowhere and given the length of the show, he probably could've cut back on his chatter and kept the show to a manageable length of under three hours. During the encore, Dave asked the crowd to join him in a prayer for our troops in Iraq before he played "Ants Marching".

The show was really incredible. But anyone expecting a typical Dave Matthews Band show is going to be either pleasantly surprised or sadly disappointed because these shows are anything but...