With a good new record out for the first time in what seems like forever, the Dave Matthews Band returned to Hartford and the famed annual shitshow that is the Meadows. Despite the venue having yet another new name, now the Comcast Theater, the spirit of underage drinking, shirtless douchebags, and overall debauchery remained the same for the annual two night stand in the state's capitol.
I shall begin with Night 1. In recent years, the Hartford shows have followed a very straighforward pattern: Night 1 sucks, and Night 2 kicks ass. This year however broke this trend. While Night 2 was the overall better show, Night 1 finally gave fans their moneys worth and helped make this the best two night stand in Hartford in recent memory. It was a rainy day (shocking!!) but the weather didn't dampen the mood of all the fans and the tailgate. My very gracious friend Kat offered to drive my friends and I to the show despite her not planning on attending. She shuttled myself and my friends Katie and Stephan, as well as Katie's college roommate. The ride consisted of some good laughs and road sodas and that carried over into the rainy tailgate. After tying on a pretty strong buzz we headed into the concert for what we hoped would be a memorable show. I sat with Stephan who unfortunately was seated next to an older woman that had an insane obsession with Dave and a knack for letting it be known frequently.
As the lights lowered and the crowd cheered, the band erupted into the classic opener of Pantala Naga Pampa->Rapunzel from 1998's Before These Crowded Streets. The performance was on fire and set the tone for the whole weekend. The band kept up the energy with the groovy new song Spaceman and it segued directly into the raunchy crowd pleaser Cornbread. Dave danced like an absolute fool while Tim Reynolds played a blistering guitar solo over the country flavored jam. Another new one, Seven, followed and it was absolutely filthy. One of my personal favorites on the album, Dave was able to belt out the lustful falsetto and the band nailed all of the tricky transitions. One Sweet World was a nice surprise midset and was followed by one of the few good Stand Up songs, You Might Die Trying. YMDT featured a huge jam with new sax player Jeff Coffin raising doubts about whether or not he is in fact a human being. One of the highlights of the show was Dancing Nancies, which is always good, but was particularly spectacular on this night. After the typically long and joyous Boyd solo, Carter kept up the beat and the band unleashed a 3-4 minute 'evil' sounding jam that set the house on fire. The only dissapointment was the major blue balls it gave me when it did not segue into Warehouse. However, a Nancies that hot is perfectly fine on its own. The rest of the set was very strong featuring a number of new tunes including a racous Alligator Pie, fantastic version of Why I Am, my personal favorite, Squirm, and a version of Time Bomb that caused Dave to turn a deep shade of red from his intense screaming. The other two highlights of the main set were the always welcome gem The Dreaming Tree, which featured an amazing flute solo by Coffin, and a blistering Crush in which Timmy and Coffin dualed along with Carter's propulsive groove. It was really something else.
The main set was closed out with a solid Grey Street, and Dave came out along for the encore to play the old standard Rye Whiskey. Despite the difficult vocals, Dave handled it very well and played a very tasteful version. This song does however feature one of the most perplexing and hilarious lines I've heard in the context of a song, which is "If the ocean were whiskey and I were a duck/I'd swim to the bottom and never come up". Awesome. On paper the encore of crowd pleasers Everyday and Stay (Wasting Time) does not seem that strong, but it was a fun upbeat way to send the crowd home. Overall N1 was surprisingly satisfying and a show that stood strong on it's own as well as in the context of the two night stand.
6/5/2009 Comcast Theater, Hartford CT
Setlist
Pantala Naga Pampa ->
Rapunzel
Spaceman ->
Cornbread
Seven
One Sweet World
You Might Die Trying
Funny The Way It Is
Dancing Nancies
Alligator Pie
Where Are You Going?
Why I Am
The Dreaming Tree
Squirm
Crush
Time Bomb
Grey Street
Encore:
Rye Whiskey*
Everyday
Stay (Wasting Time)
*Dave solo
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