I have been to 5 Dave Matthews Band concerts--one in Hartford, CT, Madison, WI, Tampa, FL and two in Orlando, FL. The show at the Hartford Meadows on June 12, 1996 was an unbelievable experience. The group had a lot of energy that night and really got the crowd going. The fact that they love playing music was very evident that night. Here is the setlist from that show:

The show began at 7:30 and Dave came out dressed in his trademark plaid pants and plaid flannel shirt. There was one new addition to his wardrobe:a red ski cap....Since I was in the second row, of course people were pushing like crazy and you could say I was not in the most comfortable position. Dave took care of that. He asked the people in the back to stop pushing because, "there are some pretty girls up here in the front and we don't want any of them getting crushed." And of course When Dave Talks, People Listen. The show began and here is setlist:

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It was great hearing "Granny" and "Help Myself", and of course "Dancing Nancies", my favorite song. "So Much To Say" was great, especially because Roi decided to use the tenor sax instead of the bari, which in my opinion sounds better, especially in the context of the song. . #41 was very emotional but I was kind of mad when people started crowd surfing during it. When I go to a DMB show, I want to listen to the music and not worry about some surfer landing on top of me. If you want to do that, go see Pantera or Korn. I would have to say "Typical Situation" was the highlight. Roi went crazy on the flute and it was amazing. "Jimi Thing" had about a 10 minute jam which I had also never heard before. Boyd sang the first two verses of "Angel" and Dave took over on the third and that song was a real surprise to hear. The band decided to get a little creative that night and that led to a terrific concert.

Dave also made his best attempt to be a comedian that night. He talked about the "cheesehead hats" and I thought that was kind of funny, especially considering that I am not a Wisconsin native. "Some funny looking hats they got in town. I gotta get me one of those funny looking cheese hats. How do you style that thing? Do you put the cheese backwards or do you wear it forward?... you can wear it any way you want. Some of you tough guys can where it sideways. Yeah I'll wear one of those hats..I'm bad." Someone also threw a Milwaukee Bucks hat onto the stage during the encore and Dave put it on, sporting it like he was actually a Bucks fan. Are there really any Bucks fans out there? Anyway the concert rocked. I was so close to the band and that made this show a hundred times better than the Meadows. So if you go to a show that offers General Admission, get there early!

I just got the tape for the Madison Show last night (12-12-96). After listening I still say the band sounded great that night. They did some things on some songs I have never heard matched. Typical Situation is still the best but some things I did not not initially remember:

*Vocal addition to jam in Lie in Our Graves

*Extra verse at beginning of Two Step

*Slow, older version of Drive In, Drive Out

*At beginning of Ants Dave Says: "Thanks, and keep wearing those cheese hats"

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A little more DaveSpeak:

"Just think every once in a while think about the people up in the front here...they are getting sqeezed real hard...especially there are some pretty little girls...so you move a little this way and a little that way cause the pretty little girls, we don't want to break them....the big boys bend a little better but the little girls don't bend as well."

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