Hilarious Mumbler

Tuesday night was another great concert night. Sue and I travelled to Vancouver to see Dave Matthews Band at GM Place. We met up with Erin and Christine ahead of time for dinner, then it was off to the show.

I had seen DMB one other time, and that concert was absoutely amazing. Excellent sound, wicked energy from the band, and by far the best light show at a concert I have ever seen.

This show had a lot to live up to.

I lived up to my hype though. Again the sound was excellent, the band was full of energy, and the light show excellent (not quite as good as last time). The music was so fluid that I had a hard time not believing I was listening to a CD. Of course the songs had some of the best solos I have heard, flowing from the song to solo after solo until each band member had their turn, then again blending back into the song.

Few concerts are perfect though. There was a large Jumbotron (for lack of a better word) that was above the band. It was a beautiful screen with crisp clear, and bright images. The problem was that it was so easy to watch the band on the screen, it distracted from watching the band. Several times I shook my head and realized that I had been staring at the screen for the past while, and hadn’t even really been watching the band (something I normally love to do).

Another distraction was that they sometimes toook large breaks in between the songs. To me it ruined the flow of the show, but I did notice that during a couple of the breaks, a technician was attempting to repair something on the massive drum kit. The breaks did highlight one aspect of the band, and that is their timing. After one long break, just as the crowd was starting to relax, all at once there was an explosion of sound and light emanating from the stage. It actually startled me.

The negatives aside, I really enjoyed the concert. The drummer was amazing, and alway, always, always had a huge grin on his face. The fiddler, had such energy, and really seemd to be having fun up there. The sax player, blended in perfectly. The keyboardist was OK, and basically did his job. The bassist was hilarious. Usually when the camera was on him he started dancing really funny, and aking fishy faces. I am not sure if he as in a strange mood, or if that is what he does.

Dave. What needs to be said about him. He is a mumbler. Smiling We were talking about it at dinner, and the few times he talked to the crowd, I had no clue what he was saying. Singing is a different matter, and that was excellent.

I all, I would rate this an excellent show, and would recomend anyone who likes his music to see him live.