Reviews of Dave Matthews Band Concerts Past

The band's version of "Ants Marching" managed to encapsulate these extremes. It began in a magnificent burst of improvisation, but then the rest of the song came off as if on a timetable, down to the chanted lines in the song's second verse about "people in every direction" -- an apt description of the packed scene at Nissan.

Rob Pegoraro
The Washington Post

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June 17, 1997
Talk about standing ovations. At Nissan Pavilion Sunday night, some 25,000 fans of the Dave Matthews Band stood and cheered for more than two hours as the Charlottesville-bred band repeatedly blurred the lines separating rock, funk, jazz, blues, folk and world beat. In fact, at times it seemed as if the show's only constant -- apart from the crowd's unwavering approval -- was the unmistakable sound of Matthews's percussive acoustic guitar and clipped vocals, a combination that often made him sound like a rhythm section unto himself.

Since many of the band's songs grew out of improvisational settings, it wasn't surprising to hear fiddler Boyd Tinsley and saxophonist Leroi Moore carve out a lot of additional solo space or to hear Matthews and drummer Carter Beauford vigorously underpinning the extensive jams. What was surprising was how well the expanded songs retained their shape and momentum. "Jimi Thing," "Ants Marching" and "Crash Into Me" were among several tunes that benefited from the spirited and sometimes spontaneous interaction among the musicians, including guest banjoist Bela Fleck, whose band opened the show.

The exchanges between Fleck and Tinsley were particularly impressive, at once playful and precise, while the combination of Tinsley's raspy tone and dramatic phrasing alone was enough to reinvigorate some of the band's more familiar tunes. And throughout the show, nothing -- not even Matthews's often puzzling lyrics -- came close to blunting the band's rhythmically persuasive power.

Mike Joyce
The Washington Post

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August 24, 1998
The Dave Matthews Band opened the first of two weekend concerts at the Nissan Pavilion Saturday night by once again erasing the lines that separate rock, funk, pop and jazz. And it had plenty of support. Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters, the seminal jazz-funk quintet, not only opened the show; three members of the band -- keyboardist Hancock, saxophonist Bennie Maupin and percussionist Bill Summers -- later helped the Matthews band sustain a freewheeling, genre-splicing momentum.

Of course, the capacity crowd, which literally danced the night away, would have been perfectly content hearing the Matthews band alone, as evidenced by the earsplitting responses to "Ants Marching" and other concert favorites. But the combination of Hancock's quirky riffs and chromatic runs, Maupin's full-throated solos and Summers's polyrhythmic finesse added welcome color, soulfulness and texture to a few tunes and sparked some freely improvised passages.

Still, beginning with "Seek Up" and concluding 2 1/2 hours later with a string of encores that featured smart covers of "Stir It Up" and "All Along the Watchtower," Matthews didn't deny the audience any familiar pleasures. The tunes, an often enigmatic collection of hit singles, including a crowd-fueled "Too Much," and expanded album tracks, were nearly always distinguished by the unmistakable sound of Matthews's staccato vocal delivery and percussive acoustic guitar. Fiddler Boyd Tinsley and saxophonist Leroi Moore then punctuated the arrangements with solos or fills alternately inspired by R&B grooves, jazz harmonies and rhapsodic balladry. For their part, drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard frequently maintained a sharply syncopated beat that the crowd couldn't shake if it wanted to. And clearly, it didn't.

Oddly enough, the opening set by the Headhunters seemed rather tame and dated when the band performed new tunes, such as bassist Paul Jackson's "Tip Toe," and surprisingly fresh and inventive when the quintet unearthed its old hit, "Watermelon Man."