Review - Dave Matthews Band @ Alpine Valley 7/6/13

Dave Matthews Band play Alpine Vally Music Theatre

DMB may have been playing in East Troy, Wisconsin, but their setlist was all over the map

July 6, 2013 was a beautiful summer night in East Troy, Wisconsin. A perfect night for an outdoor concert, especially when Dave Matthews Band are about to take the stage. The opener for the night, the beautiful and talented Grace Potter with her band the Nocturnals, warmed up the stage with their infectious brand of dance rock. As Potter announced, “It's approaching the witching hour”, the sun was about to set and the band broke into their closing number, the catchy sing-a-long “Medicine”.

A mere thirty minutes later, DaveMatthews Band walk onto the stage and start their set with the slow building track, “Squirm”, off their 2009 album “Big Whisky and the GrooGrux King”. The crowd cheered and sang along as DMB transitioned into their 1991 classic “One Sweet World”. The night would continue on like this with the band playing great songs from all eras of their twenty plus year career. It was impossible to predict where the band would go next from song to song, but rabid fans were just as likely to sing along with new songs, like “Kill the Preacher”, a song the band first began improvising last year, as they were the to sing the classics like “Jimi Thing”. The band further kept fans on their toes by playing covers of Tom Petty's “Runnin' Down a Dream” and more predictably Bob Dylan's “All Along the Watchtower”, which has been a staple to a DMB setlist since the early nineties.

Fans were treated to a blues guitar mash-up made in heaven as jazz guitarist, Stanley Jordan, improvised a song with Dave Matthews Band's lead guitarist, Tim Reynolds. Jordan remained on stage and played “Grace is Gone” with the entire band, turning the beautifully sad love song into an emotional eight minute jam. Each member of DMB got an opportunity to solo throughout the night. Boyd Tinsley, the hardest working violinist in rock and roll, absolutely nailed his solo in “#41”. Bassist Stefen Lessard used his moment to tease the classic “#34” and drummer Carter Beauford took ownership over the set closer, “Two Step”. The horn section comprised of Jeff Coffin and Rashawn Ross filled out the group with talent and versatility that a synthesizer could never emulate (I'm talking to you Paul McCartney).   Even the presence of late saxophonist LeRoi Moore was felt when Dave played the tribute track “Why I Am”.

It's been over twenty years since Dave Matthews danced his way into the mainstream music scene and it's easy to see why DMB has one of the most successful tours year after year. The band is full of extremely talented musicians and Dave Matthews is still writing great music. They have evolved with the times while keeping their roots, allowing them to retain their core group of fans and picking up new ones along the way. A Dave Matthews Band live show is a great scene that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime, but if you are like most DMB fans you will find that one show could never be enough.

Tom Waits Performs "Little Red Rooster" with The Rolling Stones

Via Rolling Stones Twitter

Last Night, The Rolling Stones brought their "50 and Counting" tour to Oakland's Oracle Arena and they were joined by the one the only Tom Waits. Watch them perform the classic blues song "Little Red Rooster".

Stream Vampire Weekend Concert Tonight!

Directed by Steve Buscemi

Steve Buscemi is directing Vampire Weekend's American Express Unstaged Concert tonight at 8pm CT on YouTube.  Hopefully, Steve will have time to grab the mic to make one of his infamous speeches.

Vampire Weekend's new album "Modern Vampires of the City" comes out May 14th.  Check out Steve and the boys enjoying dinner with Debbie Harry and Kevin Corrigan.

http://www.vampireweekend.com/

How Blur Just Became My Favorite Band

Isn't it great when you see a band live and it completely elevates your feelings about them. Blur just went from a band I love, to a band I insanely love and obsess about. I was looking forward to Blur's set at Coachella 2013 (weekend 1) all year and it was worth the wait. They were amazing, but they weren't flawless, they actually made a quite few mistakes and the crowd was relatively tame from what youtube videos led me to expect from a Blur show, but Blur made me feel. I was happy, I was sad, I was in the palm of Damon Albarn's hand as he led us through some of Blur's most intellectual and emotional songs. The devastating thing is that may have been the first and last time I get to see Blur, as they don't have any other dates in America, let alone Chicago.

Blur's Coachella set, snuck up on me. At Coachella, I would mention them as a highlight along with How to Destroy Angels (Trent Reznor's side project), Hot Chip and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. When I returned home to Chicago, I quickly learned that Blur towered over all other bands in my mind's eye. It's all I could listen to. First I put on Parklife, the epitome of Brit Pop's heady, but accessible 3 minute songs. "Girls and Boys", Blur's set opener and track 1 of "Parklife", is rock music that makes you want to dance because anything is possible. "End of the Century" and "Parklife" remind us not to be satisfied with just going through the motions. There's more to life than watching television.

Next I dove head first into 13, listening with new ears and remembering Damon and his hundred mile stare. What can I say about "Tender", that hasn't been said before? It is a beautiful song that is somehow simultaneously joyous and heartbreaking. I found myself tearing up listening to "Caramel", putting myself in that place of loneliness. “Where is the magic?” Damon groans. As it turns out the magic is in the music, and the ability to convey emotion to millions of people across the globe.

I obviously took a spin over to wikipedia, to quickly learn everything I need to know about Blur.  Insert "wikipedia is the best place to get info" joke here :)  I read all about failed relationships, struggles with drugs and the ever present, up and down friendship at the core of the band between Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon. I then listened again, trying to figure out the dynamic of each track. Why was is written? Was it personal or a statement on life in general?

I am truly grateful that I had the opportunity to see Blur. They easily could have been a band that remained casually in my mid-day music rotation, background music for whatever I was working on, but after seeing them live, I have found that their music touches my soul. It is to be listened to in headphones with no distractions. Excuse me as I close this up so I can listen to Modern Life is Rubbish.

video by AllShowsGo!

Please share your experiences where a live show took a band to the next level for you. Thanks for reading!