Article Archives

August 29th, 2006

By Paul Gargano

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Dave Matthews walked onstage in front of the sold-out crowd at Verizon Amphitheater on Friday night as if he didn't have a worry in the world.

He strolled around the open stage for a minute or so, checked out the crowd and made a few gestures in recognition of their ovation, strapped a guitar over his shoulder and couldn't have been any more nonchalant as he broke into the opener, "Pantala Naga Pampa/Rapunzel."

And for the next two hours and 45 minutes, the music erased every worry in the world throughout the crowd -- from the young set, embracing their generation's more mainstream and pop-minded descendent of the Grateful Dead, to middle-age aficionados who marveled at Matthews and his six-piece live band's acute blend of world music flair, jazz-fueled funk and soul-soaked charisma.

August 29th, 2006

BY ROB LOWMAN, Entertainment Editor

"If you can't have fun at a Dave Matthews concert, where can you have fun?" asked pretty dark-haired Rachel Musquiz rhetorically.

It was her birthday. She was turning 23 and she was ready to party along with 17,000 others Monday night at the Hollywood Bowl.

Never underestimate the power of wanting to have a good time, and Matthews and his band delivered the party favors to a crowd that ranged in their 20s to there 50s, with some looking like Ivy Leaguers and others more at home at a Hell's Angels convention. One guy a couple of rows up from me didn't take off his sunglasses all night.

August 28th, 2006

REVIEW: What brought euphoria last summer felt rote at Dave Matthews Band's Irvine stop.

By BEN WENER - The Orange County Register

The problem with reviewing jam bands in their natural habitat – an outdoor amphitheater packed with frat boys and neo-hippies and engulfed in clouds of pot smoke – is that they defy any sensible analysis, any possible summation of a commonly shared experience.

Reactions to such shows are subjective in the extreme. One acidhead's brilliant half-hour exploration of "Dark Star" is another toker's snoozefest, while the Phish-head who still avidly trades tapes of endless gigs may never get the slightest charge out of an hour from the String Cheese Incident.

Who and what you respond to is deeply personal. And that's what makes encounters with Dave Matthews Band so potentially maddening.

August 21st, 2006

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - By CARY DARLING

Cargo shorts, T-shirts, beer cups, and the Dave Matthews Band. They kind of go together like baseball, hot dogs and Mom's apple pie, especially when doing a slow-bake in an oven-hot Dallas on Saturday night.

But even if the weather hadn't been akin to standing downwind from Satan's breath, the sold-out Smirnoff Music Center would have been full of the dressed-down and wired-up, ready to party with their favorite nice guy next door: singer-guitarist Dave Matthews.

Clad in his usual T-shirt and slacks, he doesn't cut a stylish figure on stage, seems pleasant enough but doesn't show a ton of personality, and his voice is serviceable but hardly earth-shaking. What he does have, though, is a phenomenal band. It got to show off what it can do with its pop-R&B-jazz-jam band mix in a generous 2 1/2 -hour set.

August 20th, 2006

By MATT WEITZ - The Dallas Morning News

There are a lot of bands that were red-hot 10 years ago, but few have managed as comfortable a transition to elder statesmen status as the Dave Matthews Band.

JUSTIN COOK/DMN Dave Matthews' theatrical vocals and spidery acoustic guitar playing were just part of the drama that earned thunderous approval from the sold-out audience on Saturday.

That was apparent Saturday night at DMB's sold-out show at Smirnoff Music Centre. From the very first notes of "Best of What's Around" (from the group's name-making 1994 release Under the Table and Dreaming), it was clear that the crowd was inclined to greet Dave's every grunt and smirk with a thunderous wave of adulation.

August 18th, 2006

By John Lyman - Pine Crest School

What's the only thing better than catching the Dave Matthews Band concert in South Florida? I'm sure there are a lot of appropriate answers (world peace, universal healthcare, child-birth), but "seeing the performance twice" would certainly make the list. Of the 19,227 people crammed into Sound Advice Amphitheater for the sold-out band's second concert last week, returning patrons would probably agree.

With a famously eclectic sound that combines the violin, guitar, saxophone, and trumpet, the generation-bridging band appeared on stage for nearly two-and-a-half hours each night. This would not be a huge feat if the performers weren't already two months into their tour, but the 39-year-old front man led with the energy one would expect from a once-in-a-lifetime gig. But I guess that is what one should expect from a band that was founded in 1991 on the principle of long tours -- and lots of them.

August 12th, 2006

By CHARLES PASSY - Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

I hear America singing. Or is that just Dave Matthews?

Actually, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference. When Matthews and his band are on — that is, when they're deep inside the music rather than skimming its jam-oriented surface — they represent a kind of American ideal: democratic in spirit, multiracial in composition and eager to explore the great sonic fabric of this country.

The Dave Matthews Band was definitely on during its Friday night performance at the Sound Advice Amphitheatre, the first in a two-show, sold-out run. (The other concert is tonight.) Although his largely 20-something-aged audience seems willing to take their Dave in any form, they got a more energetic, focused Matthews than we've often seen in recent years.

August 8, 2006

BY MAC RANDALL

The noodle dancers were there. So were the ski jumpers, rock climbers, yogurt vendors, ecological petitioners and, most important, six stylistically diverse bands. In short, all was as Dave Matthews wanted it for his second two-day Island Getaway on Randalls Island.

Last year's trek to this surprisingly bucolic locale was so successful that Matthews decided to do another weekend run this summer. (The second installment of this year's festival was yesterday, with David Gray replacing Gov't Mule as Matthews' opening act.

Buoyed by the fine weather, Matthews and his crack band - who exuded the kind of tightness that only comes from 15 years of playing together - regaled fans with a three-hour show. The set list was heavy with old favorites: "What Would You Say," "Dancing Nancies," "Ants Marching." But there were also a few new songs that the band is considering for its next album.