Matthews’ Gorge concert floats sounds across canyon
■ Majestic backdrops and a smattering of contemporary
classics makes the Dave Matthews Band’s visit to the Gorge a
worth while treat for die-hard fans of all ilks
By Kristy Hessman
Oregon Daily Emerald
After four months, a six-and-a
half hour drive in 100-degree
weather with almost nonexistent
air conditioning and a misplaced
hotel reservation, I finally got my
birthday present — a Dave
Matthews concert at the Gorge.
The setting, to say the least,
was perfect. The orange sun dip
ping down between the cragged
mountains cast a gorgeous sunset
glow across the sky, creating an
intoxicating backdrop to listen to
the addicting sounds of Dave.
I had attended one Dave con
cert prior to this, but for the first
time I realized how loyal many of
his fans actually are. A guy from
Walla Walla, Wash., who parked
next to us with “I (heart) DMB”
painted on his back window, in
formed us that he had tickets for
the whole weekend and that the
band had only played two of the
same songs each night
“I didn’t stay here last night,
but drove back up for the last
show,” he explained.
Fans were also willing to pay
big money for tickets. Apparent
ly Dave has been auctioning off
front row seats through the Inter
net search engine Yahoo, with
the proceeds going to charity.
The girl who won the auction for
Sunday’s show paid $1,010 for
her two front-row tickets.
According to a recent Rolling
Stone article, “By the summer’s
I
end Matthews is expected to sell
170,000 tickets, including two
straight sellouts of Soldier Field
[in Chicago], which is a feat ac
complished only by the Stones,
U2, Pink Floyd and the Grateful
Dead.”
At the Gorge, the Friday and
Saturday shows sold out so fast
that they
had to add
a Sunday
show,
which
was the
night I at
tended; I
hoped it would be the best be
cause it was his last show until
Aug. 19th. The band is headed
home for a short break and will
start the tour again on that date
in Troy. Wise.
The crowd at the Gorge ranged
from Abercrombie-clad college
students to armpit-haired, Satur
day Market, Eugene types, along
with a middle-aged yuppie cou
ple in our area who broke out the
weed halfway through the show
as if their lives depended on it.
The concert opened with the
Mavericks, who combine Latin
rhythms and horns with a Vegas
style country feel. I would have
to say that the most entertaining
part of the opening act was the
sight of a shirtless college-aged
guy who danced in front of his
chair in one of the front rows
through the band’s entire set,
* a » * * a
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shaking his head and inviting
others to stand and join him. I
found out later he was from
Montana, and pretty drunk at the
time.
As the sun dropped behind the
mountains, the stage was pre
pared for Dave. The crowd
roared as the band came onto the
stage, Dave in a black shirt and
loose tan slacks, providing a per
fect look for his fast-footed danc
ing.
Boyd Tinsley, the band’s vio
linist, came out donning a cross
between- camouflage and zebra
print pants, which added to his
already, high intensity playing.
Band members include Carter
Beauford on drums, Stefan
Lessard on bass and Leroi Moore
on the saxophone and clarinet.
Butch Taylor, who is not a
member of the band but has been
with them for most of the tour,
played keyboard. Dave also invit
ed Mitch Rutman to play electric
guitar during one song. He’s a
member of the band’s catering
staff who has been with them for
a while and is retiring.
The band started out with
“Seek Up,” a mellow song, and
continued to jam with it for quite
a while. It wasn’t the way you
would think they would open
the concert but then they made
the crowd go wild with upbeat
songs like “Dancing Nancies.”
Dave and Boyd went crazy danc
ing around the stage in the
unique way that only they can.
The band played “I’ll Back
You Up,” one of my personal fa
vorites, and also treated the
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Tickets to the popular Dave Matthews Band’s shows sell out in a matter of hours.
crowd to three new songs that
have only been played on this
Summer 2000 tour. One is called
“Grace is Gone,” which was in
credible; another is called “Bar
tender,” and the third is “JTR.”
Overall, they had a nice mix of
old and new songs.
Partway through the concert,
Dave randomly told the audience
that Hawaiians consume more
Spam than any other state. Ac
cording to a friend who accom
panied me to the concert, when
Dave talks to the audience like
that it is known as Davespeak.
After making the remark, Dave
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■ Friday ■
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Ennis Bee
Benefit for Eugene Relief Nursery
$6 at the door, 9:00 pm
■ Saturday •
Yunfdien Lhamo,
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$12 advance, $1; door, 8:30 pm
■ Monday ■
Cee Knowledges
the Cosmic Funk Orchestra
featuring Doodlebug of
Disable Planets
Hip-Hop
$8 in advance, $10 door, 8:00 pm
■ Tuesday ■
AnthonyB
Reggae
$12 advance, $u, door, 9:00 pm
Thursday ■
Thomas Mapfumo
and the Blacks Unlimited
African
$12.50 advance, $15 door, 8:00 pm
Alt Ages Welcome • 687-2746
casually mentioned that he liked
Spam. As an afterthought he
added, “Now don’t go and send
me Spam ... that’s too much
Spam for one man.”
The audience loved that com
ment and roared once again.
“Satellite” was another crowd
pleaser. To my disappointment
he didn’t play “Crash,” but end
ed with an energy charged one
song encore — “All Along the
Watchtower.”
All in all, the concert was ex
cellent and was well worth the
long drive, loss of sleep and con
tact high.
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