Sunday, June 7, 2009

In Concert: The Dave Matthews Band


Soft Rock 106.5 WBMW has given away its share of Dave Matthews Band tickets lately, and our newly acquired Hartford FM Radio 104.1 WMRQ plays a lot of what now can be classified as a supergroup. The band has been around for years, but the onslaught of publicity connected with the release of their new album made me even more anxious to find out what the fuss was all about. My morning co-host Rebecca is a big Dave Matthews fan, and even got to interview him. So it was off to the Comcast Center in Hartford last night. What really struck me was the age of the crowd - a sea of fresh faces enthralled with a band whose members were probably twice their median age. I may have been the only guy there to remember Woodstock, but I didn't mind. The music was as good as any performance I've ever witnessed. Their unique genre and instrumentation defy labels and blur generational lines. Their rendition of the Bob Dylan composition and Jimi Hendrix hit "All Along the Watchtower" struck a chord and sealed the deal with this baby boomer. A beautiful night in an open air venue made it even better. Crowd control getting people in and out of the Comcast Center was an issue, not because this crowd was any worse than any other, but from the way they funnel lots of people through very small spaces. That aside, the experience left me assured that quality music hasn't gone away.

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