dave matthews band

Last night, I went with my cousin Sandi Lynn to the Dave Matthews Band concert at the Meadows in Hartford. We had great seats indoors, and I've honestly never seen a better live show. The guys are all truly amazing musicians, and I was struck by their talent and their joy in performing together. They played for about three hours, including the encore, and I barely even knew the time had passed.

It's been ten years since I've been to the Meadows, but I've never seen a DMB concert before. I had forgotten what a great place the Meadows is to see a concert. The indoors is intimate and fun. The whole complex is clean and well-taken care of, there are staff, security and police everywhere. They have everything pretty well under control, and I would imagine it has a lot to do with the history the Dave Matthews Band has in Hartford. Ten years ago, you may remember the riots that took place at their concerts in Hartford. I had just graduated high school that year, and had it on good authority at the time that several of my classmates were instrumental in starting those riots. Dave Matthews swore at the time that he would never be back to Hartford. He, of course, did change his mind and plays an annual two-night engagement there. But it hasn't been entirely without incident -- five years ago there was a mini-riot but it was curbed by police, and every year there are at least a few arrests. But the Meadows is well-prepared these days.

Dave was in a great mood last night, he was very chatty, and in fact has developed a sense of humor about the situation. They opened with a couple songs off their new album, and then took a break and he chatted with us. He pointed out the moon, which he could see coming out through the open back of the theater, and talked about what a lovely day it had been. He then said, completely deadpan, "All we need now is a riot," and then launched immediately into Ants Marching, a song from the days of that concert, with a huge jam session.

Overall, we had a great day and a wonderful time at the concert. It was completely worth standing on concrete for four hours while pregnant (which left me with ONE HELL of a charlie horse that woke me up this morning) and inhaling a little pot smoke (just add it to the long list of mother's guilt items that I can apologize to my kid later for), though it actually wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. Watching the sheer joy and musicianship and talent of those guys was a real experience. Their old music was great to hear live, and the music from their new album is intriguing and good, I am looking forward to spending more time listening to it. And getting to see the bassist's two year old daughter, wearing an adorable little white and red striped dress and huge sound-blocking headphones, dancing with wild abandon and joy on the side of the stage was the icing on the cake! Can't wait to see them in concert again.