Written by Bill Whiting – billwhiting01@yahoo.com
Photos by Scott Preston
The Dave Matthews Band returned to Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati on Tuesday following their hot (literally and figuratively) set at Bonnaroo the previous weekend. While many were lamenting a much needed rest for the ensemble ( they will not be touring in 2011), Tuesday night’s performance was stormy and tempestuous in more ways than one can imagine. Beginning with a brief roll around on “JTR,” Dave and bassist Stefan Lessard led the group into the meandering rhythmic paths that intersect on “Proudest Monkey.” Gliding smoothly into “Satellite,” violinist Boyd Tinsley had the audience pumped up with his stratospheric dance worthy jams. The recording, Big Whiskey and the Groo Grux King, got a full workout, with “Lying in the Hands of God,” providing the opening salvo. Mother Nature took the opportunity to add a darkly layered vibe to the concert, and a wicked thunderstorm shook the facility with much lightning and strong winds and rain. Matthews took the moment, and ran with it, opting to follow with “Shake Me Like a Monkey” and the top 40 hit, “Funny the Way It Is.” “Tripping Billies” had Riverbend’s packed audience in full meltdown mode, and the finest stretch of the evening began with “Gravedigger.” As the winds, lightning and rain whipped away at the storied shed, “Gravedigger” and the digital screen layout of an enormous cemetery gave way to the joyously uplifting celebration of “Cornbread.” Matthews and drummer Carter Beauford drove the sweet lyrical beauty of “Crash Into Me” with a transcendent gentleness. “Ants Marching” once again brought the crowd to it’s feet, and the DMB ended the set with a full fledged horn filled blowout on the classic composition, “Stay (Wasting Time).” Lessard’s mind blowing solo on the encore left room for the Dave Matthews Band to rock it out one last time with Bob Dylan’s timeless “All Along the Watchtower.” And so, the faithful are already planning for the big DMB comeback in 2012………
Setlist: JTR, Proudest Monkey- Satellite, Lying In The Hands of God, Shake Me Like a Monkey, Funny the Way It Is, Break For It, Tripping Billies, Seven- Gravedigger- Cornbread, Road, Can’t Stop, Crash Into Me, Spaceman- Ants Marching, Stay (Wasting Time) Encore: #41 (tease), Time Bomb, Steffan solo- All Along the Watchtower
