ROO COVERAGE: Day Three (Saturday) | Day Two (Friday) | Day One (Thursday)

Sunday’s forecast of early afternoon, festival-high temperatures followed by evening thunderstorms appeared to persuade a portion of festivalgoers to pack it in before the day’s fantastic lineup of music. Sunday is always a tricky beast at Bonnaroo. Your body generally hates you and the temptation to beat traffic and get on the road burns in your mind. For those who overcame this desire Sunday, there was plenty to be grateful for, including Tom Petty, metal and bluegrass themed stages, and David Byrne.

See below for highlights from Sunday:

JEFF the Brotherhood

JEFF began their first tent performance at Bonnaroo to a large crowd who clearly didn’t give a shit about the heat. Fans eagerly stage dove, moshed, and threw hot dogs, and generally tested the resolve of the photo pit barricade as the Nashville duo roared through crowd favorites “Hey Friend,” “Ripper,” and “Sixpack.” The brothers plan to take a few months off from touring to work on their next record, look forward to that next Spring.

Baroness

Photo from BaronessMusic.com
Continuing Bonnaroo’s unofficial Explode Your Eardrums Showcase at This Tent, Baroness followed JEFF the Brotherhood and gave fans yet another chance to test the barricades. Baroness is a part of one of the most inspirational storylines from this year’s Bonnaroo, where their performance is a part of their first tour back following a devastating bus crash last year, which left band members hospitalized for weeks and ultimately led to the departure/replacement of their bassist and drummer. From the start of their Sunday afternoon set, it was obvious that the band was happy to be back in front of their fans. The band drenched themselves in sweat as they shredded and bellowed through a set which was heavily weighted by songs off their 2012 album, Yellow & Green. These guys have an amazing chemistry and their songwriting seems to get better with each record.

David Byrne & St. Vincent

As great as they sound on their 2012 collaborative LP Love This Giant, this duo’s kindred nature is most apparent in a live setting. The twosome leaned and gyrated around on-stage like robot siblings, playing nearly every song off their album along with several Talking Heads numbers (‘Wild Night,” “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody),” and “Burning Down The House”). What is perhaps most amazing, is how well Byrne’s voice has aged, arguably sounding better than ever. Backed by a full brass section, their arrangements came across perfectly in this setting. The whole set felt like a party that could have easily closed the festival.

Bonnaroo “Best Of” Awards

Best Food

3. Zorba The Greek
2. Spicy Pie
1. Savory & Sweet Tacos (Knoxville, TN)

Best Guitar Work

3. Jim James (Superjam)
2. Benji Lysaght (Father John Misty)
1. William Tyler

Best Set of the Weekend

3. Animal Collective
2. William Tyler
1. Rock N Soul Superjam

Befitting of the eclectic, genre-hopping fan experience, here’s a musical chairs take on “Wild Wild Life” from David Byrne & St. Vincent’s set on Sunday:

Atlanta’s Music Midtown returned in 2011 with an extremely successful single-day festival led by Coldplay and The Black Keys after a lengthy hiatus in the mid-2000s that left a huge hole in the Atlanta summer music calendar for several years. Last year, organizers upped the ante and were able to sell out 50,000 tickets. While this year’s edition remains a two day affair, the fest has added a third stage. Check out the full lineup below including LMB favorites like Phoenix, Cake, North Mississippi Allstars, Queens of the Stone Age, The Black Lips and More. Also, you can visit Music Midtown’s site here.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 20

Journey
Jane’s Addiction
2 Chainz
Phoenix
Cake
North Mississippi Allstars
The Mowgli’s
Drivin N Cryin

SATURDAY, SEPT. 21

Red Hot Chili Peppers
Queens of the Stone Age
Imagine Dragons
Weezer
Kendrick Lamar
Arctic Monkeys
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Tegan and Sara
The Black Lips
Reignwolf
The Neighbourhood
ZZ Ward
Mona
Capital Cities

Tickets for Music Midtown 2013 are $40 for Sept. 20, $65 for Sept. 21 and $90 for a two-day ticket. After Aug. 1, prices will increase to $50 for Sept. 20, $75 for Sept. 21 and $110 for a two-day ticket. Fans can purchase beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday through all Ticketmaster outlets.

The best way to describe Saturday night’s Ariel Pink show at Tipitina’s would be to say that it was analagous to a musical gumbo. You take all the odds and ends left over from the week and throw them in a pot, and surprisingly enough when the water starts to simmer you have something amazing. There were three rather unique bands in the pot that night.

First up was the Hong Kong-based Purple Pilgrims, a sister duo act that consisted of Clementine and Valentine Nixon. The two sat on the stage and sang haunting folksy melodies that were layered with even more haunting guitar ambience. At one point during their set I thought I was in a David Lynch film – it was surreal to say the least. Perfect bedtime music, but the next act would wake you up immediately.

Next up was the one man band Kirin J. Callinan hailing from Australia, who was all over the place, literally. Centered around almost a dozen guitar petals, Kirin managed to give the appearance of a full band. He’s very odd and takes a bit to get into, but after listening to his first few tracks you could see his vision appearing right before your eyes. Heavily influenced by German Industrial music and a sprinkle of Manson, Kirin won over the audience and left them wanting more.

It’s always funny when a lead singer hits the stage and you can tell right off-the-bat what type of music you’ll be hearing. While LA based Ariel Pink’s catalogue is vast and each album different than the last, there has always been a 70′s glam sensibility to his songs. One thing you don’t get on the albums that you clearly do on stage is a complex and utter sensee of passion. Each song comes across as if it were part of his soul that he is sharing. The set was a well-rounded one composed of material from practically his whole catalog.

Last year’s Mature Themes had a few more tracks played but not enough to make the set feel weighted in any way. A nice bonus to the evening was live video mixing by Tim Hix, while the band played, meaning each night you get a completely different visual set.
Personal highlights for me included “Bright Lit Blue Skies,” “Mature Themes,” ”Only in My Dreams” (after which he introduced the band), and “Round and Round.” The new track “Hang on to Your Life” fit well with the rest of the set and flowed nicely into “L’estat.” Crowd favorite “Baby” harkened back to my earlier comments of that raw emotion. It was also nice to see Ariel’s mom at the show who just so happened to live here in New Orleans. She was a riot and professed her love for Kirin. So after all those ingredientes settles, we had on amazing pot of “Gumbo” Saturday night.

SETLIST: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti @ Tipitina’s Uptown | SATURDAY, JUNE 15TH, 2013

Trepanated Earth
Bright Lit Blue Skies
Interesting Results
Want Me
Kinski Assassin
Mature Themes
Only In My Dreams
Hang on to Your Life
L’estat
Reminiscences
Round and Round
Menopause Man
Strangest Fries
Gray Sunset
Baby
Nostradamus & Me

In the biggest news for the massively successful Swedish-based streaming service since Metallica rolled out their music on Spotify in late-2012, Pink Floyd has now released the great majority of their storied catalog for the 24 million plus users of the service to enjoy. In a novel move, @PinkFloyd announced on Thursday that their catalog would be available as soon as “Wish You Were Here” reached one million streams. Wish no more – there are now sixteen LP’s, two best of releases and an original film soundtrack from Floyd available on Spotify.

What will you listen to first?! Eyeing the bonus live material from Dark Side Of The Moon myself…

"Welcome to the machine…" As promised, after 1 million streams of Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd's catalogue is now available on @Spotify.

— Pink Floyd (@pinkfloyd) June 17, 2013

…and since we’re on the subject, here’s my personal favorites:

Top Five Pink Floyd Albums

1. Animals
2. Dark Side of the Moon
3. Meddle
4. Atom Heart Mother
5. Piper at the Gates of Dawn

Photos & Words by Stephen Taylor

Saturday at Bonnaroo featured exactly the kind of schedule diversity that the festival has become known for in recent years. Major acts throughout the daytime sets included Nas, Portugal. The Man, Bjork, and Dwight Yoakam. It has been apparent in recent years that Bonnaroo has begun making real efforts to schedule similar acts consecutively on the same stage to reduce foot traffic by festivalgoers. This certainly helps when you are working to save your legs for the kind of late night sets scheduled for Saturday. See below for Saturday highlights.

Two Gallants

After only being vaguely familiar with this San Francisco duo, their early Saturday set in That Tent was a pleasant surprise. They are described as “folk-rock” but their set was heavily weighted with newer material that is certainly closer to rock than folk. Singer/guitarist, Adam Stephens, sports a gravelly, Cobain-like snarl (Nirvana’s “Aneurysm” was covered) and drummer, Tyson Vogel, was a commanding presence of the drum-kit.

William Tyler

Hey middle Tennessee , this is your opportunity to see Swans melt your world in a big field surrounded by college kids tripping balls #roo

— william tyler (@williamtylertn) June 16, 2013

This Nashville based artist’s recent Merge Records release, Impossible Truth, is one of my favorite records of the year, so I was excited to see him as a late addition to Bonnaroo. Tyler writes striking guitar based compositions that manage to transcend era or genre. His most recent band includes members of other popular Nashville outfits JEFF the Brotherhood (drums) and Natural Child (pedal steel), who beautifully enrich Tyler’s songs. This 50 minute set, which might have been the best music I saw all weekend, was played in the New Music On Tap Lounge, which is a small Miller Lite themed enclave in the vendor area of Centeroo. After a few songs, the small contingent of patrons, who might have just shown up for the beanbags, slowly picked their heads up in awe, which is how I envision many Tyler’s fans are made.

William Tyler in the running for set of the weekend @Bonnaroo – @shtevetaylor

— LIVE MUSIC BLOG.com (@livemusicblog) June 16, 2013

Rock N Soul Superjam

As previously reported, LMB had expectations of greatness for Saturday night’s historic lineup. This group did not disappoint. Things were led off by a precise rendition of Hendrix’s Woodstock performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” by Police Academy star Michael Winslow (“Man of 10,000 Sound Effects”). From there, the group moved through well-rehearsed renditions of songs by The Meters, Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, The Band, Rolling Stones, Prince, and Sly and the Family Stone, officially making this unit “The Greatest Wedding Band of All Time”. An early highlight was Mayfield’s, “Move on Up,” which featured alternating verses by Jim James and Bilal and ended with a signature James guitar solo and screaming freak out.

Alabama Shakes singer Brittany Howard performed a moving duet with John Oates of the Sam & Dave classic, “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby.” The funk came in full force when bass legend, Larry Graham, hit the stage about halfway through the set and glided through a series of classic Sly and the Family Stone songs in his signature white suit and hat.

The night’s biggest surprise came when R Kelly made an appearance, following his set on Which Stage, to play two Sam Cooke songs, including a soulful performance of “A Change is Gonna Come.”

In the end, each of the night’s guests, including Billy Idol, returned to the stage for a rendition of Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Want To Take You Higher,” which was a picture-perfect close to this historic collaboration of great artists.

.@Bonnaroo #superjam with @jimjames @JohnOates … Epic night

— R. Kelly (@rkelly) June 16, 2013

Jim James and John Oates curate a Bonnaroo Superjam for the ages http://t.co/uYimu6C5pZ via @examinercom

— John Oates (@JohnOates) June 16, 2013

A Change is Gonna Come w/ R Kelly

Use Me

Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts brought their late 70s/early 80s style punk to Neumos last night. They use the loud, repetitive jangle of punk as an engaging foundation for thoughtful social commentary. Their debut release from last year, Light Up Gold, includes 15 tightly packed tracks that power onward from start to finish, layered with insightful lyrics from vocalists Andrew Savage and Austin Brown.

“Master of my Craft” is a sarcastic commentary on how the capitalist machine is killing individuality and thoughtful discourse. Brown rants, “We praise the dollar you fucking hippie…Socrates died in the fuckin’ gutter!” “Borrowed Time” rolls along carelessly, yet it contains such enlightened lines as “I was up to my neck in motivation neglect when / I felt soft waves of purpose crashing onto the surface.” It’s a song about the fear of irrelevance, and the paralyzing effects of writer’s block. “Yonder is Closer to the Heart” laments the ease with which artists get stuck in their day to day routine, become uninspired, and use mundane triumphs to distract themselves from their larger, unaddressed goals. These songs sound like the band just picked up their guitars and started thrashing, but they hold a much deeper sense of purpose.

After cancelling their KEXP radio performance due to a lost voice, I worried the band might be more reserved. They were undeterred, and it was hard to guess which of the vocalists had been having trouble. The same couldn’t be said for the crowd, which was much less rowdy than expected. There was no lack of enthusiasm in the room however, as fans bobbed their heads emphatically or jumped around in place.

The concise setlist included “Light Up Gold,” “Yr No Stoner,” “N Dakota,” and the crowd-pleaser “Stoned and Starving.” The latter lazily plods along, Savage recalling a night of “debating Swedish Fish / roasted peanuts or licorice / I was so stoned and starving.” The title words repeat over and over, as bassist Sean Yeaton adds backup vocals. The song devolves into high pitched feedback which would be ear-splitting if the repeating melody wasn’t so damn satisfying. This devolution was recreated impeccably live as Brown and Savage coaxed their machines into wild screams, riffing off one another in a wild feedback jam.

Naomi Punk from Olympia, WA opened, drawing a decent sized crowd despite playing more often in the underground circuit. The band’s syncopated moments of silence and noise created melodies that felt rationed, fed to the crowd in short bursts of reverence. The vocals alternated between deep groans and high, euphoric releases, disjointed and discordant but controlled. Their intense attention to pace in songs like “The Swell” paired well with Parquet Court’s focused chord progressions.

The last track of the night featured the band slowly removing each instrument, the melody dropping out as Savage put down his guitar and continued to ramble. It felt almost religious listening as he spewed ruminations until blue in the face, eventually thanking the crowd and walking off. In an interview with Pitchfork, he stresses how “the writing always comes first– all the melodies and all the music are worked around the writing.” Lyrics are paramount to this band, even in live performances when one might expect the instruments to take precedence.

Parquet Courts shouldn’t be dismissed as three chord party music. Rather, they harness punk’s aesthetics as a way to touch on prevalent issues in a light-hearted way. Their songs are a testament to punk as poetry, and these boys are masters of their craft.

Words and Photos by Stephen Taylor

Friday was another beautiful day on the farm. Temperatures reached a mid-day high of 85 degrees, which is plenty to sweat about in a field, but about all you can hope for in the south in June. The weekend warrior masses descended on Bonnaroo ready for Sir Paul’s debut on What Stage. McCartney conducted a 2.5 hour, career spanning set, cycling between his Rickenbacker bass, lead guitar, and piano. He ended his Wings hit, “Let Me Roll It” with a long, left handed guitar solo that segued into a “Foxy Lady”-esque jam, which he later dedicated to Hendrix, who he credited for learning every song on Sgt. Peppers in two days after its original release and covering it in a London club.

THANK YOU, @PaulMcCartney! LOVE, BONNAROO | pic.twitter.com/RWI2rSuOjE

— Bonnaroo (@Bonnaroo) June 15, 2013

See below for other highlights from Friday:

Amadou & Mariam

The blind husband and wife couple from Mali treated That Tent to a late afternoon African dance extravaganza. From the jump, the rolling afro-beat and blues numbers entranced everyone inside and drew hundreds more passing by. The pair stands stoic, barely moving a muscle in front of their band, but their presence is affirmed through Mariam’s beautiful French, call and response singing and Amadou’s shredding of his golden Telecaster.

Band i just happened to hear while walking that was so funky and cool i had to stop. #Amadou&mariam #bonnaroo

— Ben McGary (@spoon_tang_clan) June 14, 2013

Superjam

As the crowd filled in following McCartney’s final round of fireworks, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Lettuce took the stage to perform a medley of perfectly executed James Brown numbers, including “Funky Drummer” and “Payback.” During this segment, and throughout the night, Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch was the star on stage, effortlessly impersonating a drum machine and reading cues from the many guests. Solange also shined with her cover of the Fugees’ rendition of “Killing Me Softly.” The close of the show was orchestrated by RZA, Redman, and Method Man, who dropped crowd pleasers from the Wu-Tang catalog (“Triumph”, “C.R.E.A.M.”, etc.) for the second time that day after the rap ensemble’s Which Stage set. This time, however, the songs had a very different feel with Lettuce at the helm and it was clear that the Staten Islanders were impressed.

Animal Collective

In possibly the best scheduling decision of the weekend, Animal Collective began their This Tent set at 2 AM to a packed house and played a two hour set. As festival attendees across the world have witnessed before, Animal Collective’s brand of spacey headphone music does not usually translate well under the hot afternoon sun. Late night at Bonnaroo is the perfect place for these freaks and the crowd absolutely ate it up. Without a recent LP release, the setlist spanned their catalog. The night’s peak moments were Feels’ “Did You See The Words”, Fall Be Kind’s “What Would I Want? Sky”, and Merriweather Post Pavilion’s “My Girls” & “Brothersport.” The band has largely spent time on solo projects for the past year, but sounded more in sync than ever, nailing their changes and extending songs into rave-y sequences. Highlight of Bonnaroo’s first half for this guy.

.@anmlcollective jammed with Michael Winslow, the sound effects dude from Police Academy, at @Bonnaroo http://t.co/fgQoqNng3M

— Pitchfork (@pitchforkmedia) June 15, 2013

We’ve often seen savvy festival promoters take their announcements straight to other festivals to really make a splash with the right audience, and it looks like the smart people behind this year’s Hulaween have taken to printing fliers to hand out at Bonnaroo to get the word out about their amazing Halloween plans this year. String Cheese Incident is bringing their Hulaween celebration to Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park in Florida for three days this year and they’ve already announced (via flier) that their weekend will include LMB faves STS9 and Big Gigantic, not to mention more bands to be announced soon. The festival will start on Halloween Day and run through the weekend, and they’ve got a website and more info coming soon.

That’s really all we know so far, but we’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

Words and Photos by Stephen Taylor

As is always the case in Manchester, TN in June, Mother Nature is a main point of focus leading up to and during Bonnaroo. On opening day, the weather on the farm started hot and turned out perfect after a short rain in the afternoon. This is my 6th time to Bonnaroo and the number of Thursday attendees has grown every year along with the number of artists on the lineup. Thursday also tends to be a particularly rowdy night with people’s energy levels yet-to-be tempered and tamed by the sun.

The big story at Bonnaroo on Thursday was the cancellation by headliner Mumford and Sons due to their bassist’s ongoing recovery from an emergency brain treatment this week. Immediately, rumors were flying on their replacement for the Saturday night slot. My favorite rumors were Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, and My Morning Jacket. Bonnaroo ultimately went with Jack Johnson, who was already on the farm to support his friends in ALO during their Thursday night set. An interesting choice, but Johnson will undoubtedly reveal songs from his recently announced sixth album From Here to Now to You, which is out Sept. 17.

See below for my highlights and a few phone snaps from Thursday:

FUTUREBIRDS

The Athens outfit rolled in Friday afternoon only to have their van get stuck in the mud that had accumulated in the maze of backstage roads. After spending an hour pushing it out, they hustled immediately to This Tent and impressively carried out their usual high energy set as though they had been sippin’ lemonades. Their set marked the end of a cross-country tour and the band sounded great as they blazed through a set of favorites off their two albums (Hampton’s Lullaby and 2013′s critically-acclaimed Baba Yaga) and EP.

Father John Misty

As an enormous fan of Josh Tillman’s 2012 debut solo album, Fear Fun, I must say that I approached my first live experience with some trepidation based on mixed reviews I have heard. Josh Tillman and his band grabbed the crowd and never let go throughout his hour-long set. Sporting a Jagger-esque stage presence, Tillman’s voice sounded better than on record at times as he riffed and improvised through nearly every song on the band’s lone LP. He also displayed his usual witty stage banter when introducing a new song, which he declared was written by “me and Ecstacy” and invited to crowd to be inspired to “take off your jester hat, get off your unicycle, go back to your Subaru, and write a song right now!” The new song, “I Love You, Honey Bear” sounds like a Bond theme, so it’s a good one. Perhaps the most surprising thing was Tillman’s guitarist whose astonished and upstaged with his Telecaster, fully embracing a raw Tennessee sound that transformed every song into a honky-tonk number.

Alt-J

The English indie rock quartet easily drew the largest Thursday night crowd I’ve seen at Bonnaroo, with people spilling out of This Tent, past the fountain, into the vendor area. Judging by the demographic of the crowd at this set, and their ability to sing every song off the band’s oft-cryptic debut, An Awesome Wave, I now have a theory (dream) that Alt-J may have created a genre that will serve as the bridge for our nation’s young people out of the dregs of Brostep. Alt-J’s four members execute tribal, bass heavy, electro-pop arrangements, with church voices, even singing in the round on several songs. Songs were precisely executed in close form with their album, which I look forward to revisiting.

Happy Bonnaroo 2013!

Futurebirds @ Bonnaroo 2013

ALSO SEE: “BREAKING DOWN THE BONNAROO 2013 SUPERJAMS“

This past weekend was the annual Dave Matthews Band two-night run in Hartford, and this year they came with support from The Head and the Heart. My brothers and I were not going to let ugly clouds and nonstop rain keep us from a good time. Pizzas were purchased, beers were on ice, snacks packed and the pop-up tents were in tow. En route to the show, I had declared that I was hoping for a “Watchtower” at some point during the evening. Now, it takes a special kind of fan to be able to understand the patterns a band makes when choosing their set list. As one of those fans I realize that it was the first of two nights and for these guys it was very unlikely that they would deliver my “Watchtower” request. Despite all of that, I also had with me some hope. We arrived at the parking lot and despite the buckets of rain, we got a pretty solid pre-show buzz on and enjoyed the tailgate scene. And what a scene it was.

Fast forward a few hours, and I was stage-side ready to take on the evening. Finally, Dave Matthews himself arrived on stage to introduce the opening band. “Hope you are not wearing blue jeans. Blue jeans suck in the rain,” he said at random (and I agreed making a frown face while looking down at my soaking wet blue jeans.) “Please welcome The Head and the Heart!”. Who is this band he spoke of? They are a six piece band from Seattle Washington and they know how to play music. They took the stage donning wool sweaters, button-down shirts and winter caps. As they sang, you could see their breath. The air was cool and the sound was mellow. Their sound was delicate and folk-like; a very beautiful set. And it had made me forget all about the rain as my bones started to really warm up.

During the set break, the stage-hands worked quickly to set the scene for DMB. There was a round lighting rig with a large white sheet draped from it that sat about five feet off of the stage. It was reminiscent to a classic theater curtain, but it looked more like an over-sized shower curtain. While waiting, a photographer friend of mine had said out loud that she was hoping also for a “Watchtower”. So we decided to combine our positive vibes and continue to hope for the best. The adrenaline was racing through our veins as the band slowly took their positions on stage. We, in the pit, were instructed that as soon as the curtain dropped we could run front and center. And then it happened…and ran in, we did.

The band came on strong with a “JTR” opener and considering all of the rain, it was an absolutely fitting first song.

“Rain, rain, rain down on me
Again and again
Rain down on me”

From the faint sounds of #34 pre-curtain drop to now this, I had a really, really good feeling about this show.

For the second number, they broke into “Warehouse” and I found myself caught up in a moment. It was amazing to think that these words once meant one thing to me and now, 18 years later, they mean something altogether different. This band has been a part of life for so many chapters of it and I am woman enough to admit that all of the thoughts and feelings brought a few tears to my eyes. It was great being directly in front of them. Their facial expressions are priceless and they truly put their heart into every song they play. And Dave’s feet!!! Watching them so up close and personal was such a treat. The way he moves back and forth around stage is certainly one of his signatures.

The setlist was nothing short of marvelous. Highlights to include an astounding “Bartender” with an incredible penny whistle solo by Jeff Coffin that made me really feel that the spirit of the late and great LeRoi Moore was right there with us. “The Song that Jane Likes” I cannot say for certain if I have ever heard live before. Odds are that I have, though I enjoyed the hell out of it as if it was the first time. “Lie In our Graves” lasted at least ten minutes and Tim Reynolds nailed it with a great moment under the spotlight. They even pulled out “Running Down a Dream” by Tom Petty, which was so incredibly on point, you might have thought Petty himself were there with them. There were traces of some Pink Floyd teased during the end. Nearly three hours after it started, they closed the show with the ever-classic “Ants Marching”. But we wanted more…

So back on stage they came and indulged us with a two song encore. “Drunken Soldier” kicked of the beginning of the end. Left me to wonder what they would actually close the show with–it could have been any number of things. Then it happened. Stefan Lessard took the spotlight and laid into a pretty tight bass solo and the band slowly moved into “All Along The Watchtower” a Bob Dylan cover. Annnnnnnnnnd my evening was complete.

Many that know who I am understand the excitement that I get from any kind of live music. In the now vintage AIWA boombox that is still functioning and set up in my living room, there are two cassette tapes in the decks. One has a bootleg Phish show from Fort Collins in 1990 and the other is a DMB show from Pittsburgh in 1993. If I had to say which of the two I have seen more times live at this point, I couldn’t be sure one way or the other. The difference between the two for me is that while I have seen a ton of Phish in my recent past, I grew up with the Dave Matthews Band. I have been watching them perform live for close to 20 years. I can say that come rain (literally) or come shine they always deliver a solid performance and make for a very happy me.

In theory, the second evening of a two night run tends to always be better…from my experiences, at least. And the first evening of this run was incredible. I was not present at night two, but from the set list below, it looks better than incredible. Slow clap for the band. RIP LeRoi.

Comcast Theater, Hartford CT, 6.7.13
JTR (with a #34 tease to start)
Warehouse
Squirm
Broken Things
The Idea of You
(Kill The Preacher)
Why I AM
Captain
Belly Belly Nice
Big Eyed Fish
Bartender
The Song That Jane Likes
Lie in our Graces
Runnin Down a Dream (Tom Petty cover)
Rooftop
The Dreaming Tree
Rhyme and Reason
Everyday
Ants Marching

ENCORE
Drunken Soldier
Al Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)

6.8.2013
Seek Up
Proudest Monkey
Satellite
Don’t Drink the Water
Seven
Spoon (first time played since 11.19.10)
Shake Me Like a Monkey
The Riff
Grey Street
Mercy
So Right
Jimi Thing
Gaucho
The Best of What’s Around
Recently
Funny the Way It Is
Pantala Naga Pampa
Rapunzel

ENCORE
Blue Water
Two Step