A Night Getting Mellow with Dave: A Review of the DMB Concert

Not long ago, when the Dave Matthews Band came through Chicago the man driving one of the buses that was part of his train of them, did a very bad thing. While driving over a bridge downtown, over the Chicago River, and with a tour boat below, the driver decided that would be a good time to get rid of the waste in the buses toilets. It splattered down on the tour boat and made a lot of tourists very stinky.

Thankfully, with Dave's latest trek through town, there was no such incident.

Dave played the relatively new Toyota Park, which is the stadium built in far southwest suburban Bridgeview for the Major League Soccer team, the Chicago Fire. The stadium holds just under 30,000 people and it seemed that every single ticket was sold out during this Sunday night performance on one of the hottest weekends in this Chicago summer so far.

If there is one complaint it would have to be with the stadium itself. While the inside of the stadium was very nice and the views I had were excellent, the getting in and parking aspect of the whole experience was a nightmare. I hope that the folks that run Toyota Park take some time to look at the venue again and, maybe try to figure out a better way to park 30,000 cars. It took forever, leading to a mad dash for the seats.

Dave started at 8:15. Thanks to the parking, I missed opening act "Guster" but those who had been there for them did not exactly give them glowing reviews.

Now, I am not the world's biggest DMB fan. I have enjoyed the music, but the last album I bought for this group was "Crash" and that was a long time ago. However, I have heard that the group puts on a great show. I am proud to say that these rumors are true. I honestly can say I had a blast throughout this show and cannot remember a more fun concert experience.

Dave has managed to surround himself with amazing musicians. They have been playing together for a long time now and seem very comfortable with one another. Even when the weather is amazingly hot and sapping the strength of just about everyone in the audience, this is a band that is ready to rock and blow the doors off the place.

With this concert, Dave is testing out some new material. Given the reaction of the audience, he may still have to work on some of this stuff. Most of it seems very acoustic and very mellow. This was a crowd not in the mood for mellow and acoustic.

The fans of DMB are a very passionate lot. They are about as close to Phish- and Dead-Heads that you are likely to find. There are some who even follow the band around. At one time, at least, I understand that Dave encouraged people to record his shows. I am betting this is not the case anymore.

Dave kept the slower numbers few and far between during this show. Instead he went with his rockers and Dave was in fine form. While his mumbled comments between songs were unintelligible, his vocal chords looked ready to explode with the way he was screaming and singing those lyrics into the mike. Meanwhile, the drummer, bass player, horn players and fiddle player each had extended solos during several of the group's famous jams.

The show flew by and Dave seemed very into it. The crowd was certainly into it and there was a definite feeling that the band was feeding off of that energy from the crowd. The band played for nearly three hours and the entire stadium did not want to see the band leave no matter what the temperature was.

So, be sure to check out the DMB tour when it comes to your neck of the wood. While the new stuff he is trying out may not impress you, the band is in fine form and dazzling while playing the new stuff. You are likely to have a great time.

It turns out that DMB is just one of those rock bands every fan of the genre should see at least once.