Dave Matthews and some of his friends came to Hartford and gave everyone an early present for the Holidays - a joyous, energetic show that went from one end of the musical spectrum to the other.
After Emmylou Harris and her band Spyboy opened with a great set to a respectful audience, Dave took the stage with friend and long time solo touring partner, Tim Reynolds to play "Ants Marching," "Grace is Gone," "Bartender," "Crush" and "Dancing Nancies."
The full band, which in addition to Reynolds includes Some Devil collaborators Trey Anastasio (Phish), keyboardist Ray Paczkowski (Anastasio’s solo band), Spyboy member's bassist Tony Hall and drummer Brady Blade then joined Dave and Tim. "Dodo" and "Trouble" started it out with a lot of energy and that much expected, extended jamming element. Trey and Tim are such accomplished guitarists, but have much different styles. Trey, the much more noticeable, flamboyant power guy effectively countered Tim's quiet stage presence, feeding of each other, doing one lightning fast run after another.
Mixing up the set, dispersed within the heavy
Some Devil repertoire, the band launched into a good number of cover songs, namely The Band’s "Up On Cripple Creek" which Trey sang, Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" and the Beatles "Hey Bulldog," which got the crowd going. Dave also called on Emmylou Harris to come out and sing "Oh Sister" with him, a song that she originally sang backup vocals for on Bob Dylan's
Desire album years ago. Though with a stage full of celebs, an ironic highlight came when Dave took the stage solo to do
Some Devil’s title track with just an electric guitar and his plaintive voice, singing "You said always and forever/Now I believe you baby/You said always and forever/Such a long and lonely time."
Sly and the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)” done for the first time this tour, closed out the rousing set. As the song concluded, the crowd sang the refrain and after they departed the stage, left just Dave and the drummer keeping the beat. Dave danced from one end of the stage to the other, while appearing to having so much fun he didn’t want to leave at all.
Dave and Trey came on for the encore and graciously played a version of Phish’s "Waste,” before Trey cajoled Dave to do a request from a friend for Bob Marley’s "Three Little Birds.” The crowd accompanied, and towards the end, Dave implored them to keep going. They sang long and loud as the full band came back on stage, only stopping when a rocking Led Zeppelin cover- "Fool in the Rain" closed the show.
With some talk and a little hand wringing among Matthews fans of what this tour means to the future of the Dave Matthews Band, watching Dave having so much fun dancing around the stage on a cold December night and with a fantastic summer tour ending show at Central Park, one thing kept going through my mind…
"Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Photo by Jeff Child and Rudy Arias, courtesy of davematthewsband.com.
