The trek down to Cville is a journey. 9 hours for me, but I was lucky enough to have Amanda with me for the ride. She decided last minute due to a free night one ticket that she could make the trip. We were staying with our good friends Jules and Jessie at a baller suite in Cville. Everything was lined up for a perfect trip for the last stop in the bands hometown. We got into town just in time to smoke up before heading downtown to Millers. Millers for those who don't know is where it all started. Tim and Leroi would play there all the time where Dave tended bar. It was cool to go back there, I made the trip in '09 too. There were tons of fans there pregaming to go see TR3 right across the street at the Jefferson Theater. Joe Lawlor was opening for TR3, and he later guested with Tim and Jeff Coffin even came out for a couple songs during Tim's set. We were two feet away from Jeff and Tim, two of the most talented men at their instruments and they were doing work! It was so cool to watch Jeff think of sax lines and then step up to the mic and just blow us all away. The show was a lot of fun, and I would have killed to see Dave and Tim play there back in the day. We headed back after to rest up for the real reason for going to Cville!
N1 started out with us going to the Cavalier Inn to hang out with the Ants Marching crew. We had to move to the main lots due to no tailgating at the Cav, but we had a great time with everyone and ate a ton of great food. We wanted to get in for the opener for the first night. The plans for N1 were to sneak onto the floor, which was no problem, per usual. We had a great spot about 15 rows back, right in front of Dave. The little red guitar was out again, Squirm opened. I was thinking it would be something much bigger. The show started off pretty slow and was I slightly sad that Bartender didn't follow BEF, I was really in the mood for it. Grey St. was great, but it was the only one that wowed me in the first few songs. Spaceman and Everyday followed, I was worried. Thankfully #41 was after and things were smooth sailing after that. The rest of the show was excellent! Joe Lawlor guested which was great. The entire band loved sharing the stage with him. When Joe went over to duel with Tim for the first #41 of the tour over 10 minutes long, it immediately made me forget the first portion of the set. Joe gave Tim props by basically bowing down to him before they both shredded at the same time. It was one of the many highlights from the weekend. The crowd was really buzzing after #41 and the band kept the high going with Shake Me. Then they busted out Spoon for the 3rd time since 2003. I have been trying to see Spoon for a long time, it is one of their most beautiful studio efforts and I was completely floored by the performance the band put on during this song. It will go down as one of the best best single song performances ever. Jeff and Carter and Tim all kill this song to the 10th degree. The video will be posted at the bottom along with a few others, just mind blowing.
The crowd was going insane. Then the band called out long time friend John D'Earth for Warehouse. There was a special quality to the way the band played these songs, they knew it was their last shows for a while and they played like it. Warehouse was intense, everyone was into it and the Sala Jam was great! Keep it going boys!...and they did! Trombone Shorty then joined for Jimi Thing. Quite possibly my favorite Jimi Thing ever. There were 5 horn players on stage, everyone soloed and Dave played the 'For What It's Worth' outro which is 10x better then Sexy Motherfucker. Blackjack is just a weird song, I don't like it very much and Amanda was super de-hydrated so we headed to our real seats. Dave played the Can't Buy Me Love outro to Christmas Song and then went right into Lie In Our Graves. Now that is a fucking good run of songs. Boyd went crazy during his solo on LIOG gettin' all up in Dave Stefan and even Carters face! I love this song more and more every time I listen to it. No reprise again, just like MSG, I was hoping for it to pop up the next night. I don't know why Dave likes to play Timebomb into You and Me, especially so late in the set...it's so lame! Stay also closed the main set, which it tends to do in Cville. Whateva! at least it wasn't the encore closer, and I was still riding the high of the last few songs.
The encore started out with Sister, which is given a pardon due to Jane actually being in attendance. Then Fonz started a nice 2 minute intro that led into All Along The Watchtower. Again I was hoping the encore would have one more song in it...I was praying for Halloween at this point. The band usually finishes AATW right after Dave says 'No reason to get excited'. But Carter kept jamming and Dave started playing the Halloween riff and the crowd started seriously freaking out. It was a really cool moment to see everyone in the pit flipping out, I even saw my friend Rachel jumping...she has been seeking out Halloween for years. It was a real treat for all the hardcore fans that made the trek down there for the last shows. I had zero expectations for seeing Halloween that weekend. Thank you to whoever brought the sign. Overall this show was a lot of fun, a few questionable songs but how can you bitch about a show with Spoon and Halloween!
Here it was, it all boiled down to this...the last show the Dave Matthews Band would play until further notice. The day started with beer and pizza downtown, then Ricky's tailgate. Again, we ate like kings. It was a lot of fun to hang out with the Ants crew before both shows, great to meet some of the faces behind the avatars. Being surrounded by real fans that I could have actual discussions with about the band was a real treat. The show started with You Might Die Trying. I was hoping for something older, but YMDT has been great this year and the crowd was loud! They played Proudest Monkey Satellite next which was classic DMB, but it was again a little too slow paced for this 'epic' last show. Say Goodbye changed my feelings. I finally got to see this song this year and it is such a beauty. I love Jeff on the flute and Carter on the drums. This version killed the MSG one, Dave finally had his voice back and hit all the high notes. Rhyme and Reason with Joe was a lot of fun. This time he headed over to the horns and challenged them. I think this is one of Joe's favorites. Eh hee Cant Stop and Cornbread is garbage...NO reason for them to play these songs at the last show. That's all I have to say about that. However once Digging a Ditch started, the rest of the show was smooth sailing and was very high energy. Lying in The Hands is a out of the world now. 17 minutes long and Jeff goes crazy with Carter, a super heavy groove. Fonz bounces all around on this one.
I gotta little sister named Jane... my third of the tour! Such an upbeat happy song, I love it. Write Song went into Why I am, the best version ever. Cville has the loudest cheers on the GrooGrux King line...I got shivers. Dancing Nancies featured Boyd Tinsley going Boyd on the violin. He was jumping and screeching like a mad man! This lead into Long Black Veil, easily the biggest surprise of the weekend. I wish there was more of a jam at the end of it, but I was just shocked that this one got busted out. I have a feeling it was one of Roi's favorites to play and that's why Dave decided to play it. What You Are had the sweet blues intro that they have been doing lately. I was hoping it wouldn't close the set, and then Boyd started strumming Two Step. What You Are -->Two Step was such a energetic way to close the main set. Carter handed out about 30 sticks, the crowd was erupting. It was the end of the main set to what would be their longest show ever and the fans were showing the love.
Dave came out for the encore and told us a little story about how he wasn't sure if he wanted to do this break and that he was crazy for doing it, but that it would be good and that we would see them all very soon. He played Some Devil, my favorite E1 song. I get the chills every time. Sure enough the band decided to play Granny for the second song in the encore. As I've said before...that's the perfect spot for Granny. The crowd shouting Love! Baby! One of my favorite old school jams. The 12 string came out and it was time for The Last Stop at the last stop. He teased #40 before which was a nice surprise because of the 12 string, and because of the 12 string it was just a short tease. Then the band played The Last Stop. If you caught a show this fall, you most likely saw it, and you know how special it is. This one was even more special, Carter and Tim's build up was perfect the outro with Dave saying goodbye to everyone... not a dry eye in the building. Even a Three Little Bird's interpolation by Dave at the end, it was the perfect touch. The song ended and Dave thanked us. The band was hugging and waving to us as they left the stage...Dave Stefan and Carter were left on stage talking.
The crowd was shouting for ONE MORE SONG! Carter tapped his cymbals and the band made its way back out for another tune. This was one of the most special moments in my DMB going career. The band started Too Much and then I think they were planning on going directly into Ants but Stefan busted right into Anyone Seen The Bridge. He was jumping all over stage for one last time. You could tell he was going to enjoy this moment to the fullest. The band went back into the Too Much intro that lead right into their anthem, Ants Marching. This song is epitomizes DMB and this version was epic. Boyd Tinsley tore the roof off, hopping and jumping around all over the stage...it was a super extended jam with the entire band circled around Carter. They lead into the outro, the best 45 seconds in the history of music. Everyone's hands in the air, it was one of those moments where you feel so connected with everyone around you. The crowd was soooo loud! Then that was it...Carter handed out a few more sticks, band members hugged, fans hugged...I couldn't believe it was over.
This month was the best month of my life in terms of going to DMB shows. 7 shows in less then 3 weeks. The time of my life. I saw some amazing performances, and met lots of great people. Thank you all for the memories...hope to see you for a few shows next year!
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