The Best of What's Around - Part 3

After a long day at work ... I'm back for a third post in a single day! And all about DMB. I'm sure that most of you are sick of this already, but just remember that I'll get busy again and this will fall off to the side, just like my breakdown of the new 50 greatest players in NBA history (I'm currently holding at #40). But for now, properly motivated and psyched about my upcoming weekend, here's my third Dave show, which was my only Dave and Tim set thus far (I'll add a second one in this Saturday). First, remember the song ratings:

1 = A song that I would gladly go to get a beer, use the restroom, or do anything else that I needed to do during.
2 = A song that will make me want to stay in place, but that I'll hunt down the beer man during
3 = A song that I'll dance a little to, has moments I'll love, but that I'll talk to The Wiese or text during.
4 = A song I'll be totally lost in, and one which brings me the aforementioned joy and happiness.
5 = Epic; a top ten song, or such a rarity to hear live that I am going to lose control, and might knock someone over I'm dancing in such a crazy way. MJ almost got thrown over a balcony for one of these.

Now, to set the scene. On a beautiful spring day in Bloomington, with my parents in town for an awards banquet, I received a hurried call from a roommate telling me to go a few blocks over, get in line, and I would get free Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds tickets. Dave and Tim tickets are generally expensive and hard to get, and the shows are a different but yet satisfying experience. So, naturally, I left my parents at the bar drinking Old Style and watching the Cubs, and went over to wait in line. Dave and Tim were coming in to do a "rally the vote" show for Obama, as the Indiana Democratic Primary was coming up, and at the time it seemed like Indiana's opinion was going to matter for the first time since RFK (as it would turn out, Indiana's opinion didn't matter; Obama had it wrapped up by then. Still, it was a nice fantasy while it lasted).

So, two tickets in hand, Holly and I went to THE Assembly Hall ... and man did she find a way to push through the crowd when the opened the door. I mean, we got right down by the floor, and had amazing seats. This show involved a number of good songs, but one super epic song which made the day. If I were to rate songs 1-6, with a 6 being saved for songs so unexpected, rare and good that I almost peed myself when they started, Dreaming Tree would be a 6. But, having already evaluated two shows, I'm going to stick with my current system and give it a five. The show went a little something like this:

1. Bartender - 5
2. Save Me - 3
3. Stay or Leave - 4
4. Satellite - 5
5. So Damn Lucky - 4
6. The Dreaming Tree - 5
7. Smooth Rider (tease) - N/A
7. Corn Bread - 4
8. Smooth Rider -1
9. Old Dirt Hill - 2
10. Crush - 4
11. Stream - 2
12. Sister - 2
13. Lie in our Graves - 4
14. Gravedigger - 3
15. Dancing Nancies - 5
16. E: #41 - 5
17. E: Ants Marching - 5

A few things of note:

- this was my first #41, which has a unique double quality: it is a song that I love, and am in total bliss when they start ... which then merges into the greatest restroom break opportunity ever because they jam for a solid 10-15 minutes after the song is over. I rate it a 5 because I love it, but it's a weird mix of a 5 and a 1.
- This show had it's ups and downs as well, including a really weak middle section that involved a 1 (Smooth Rider) and three 2s in a five song run. Still, the set ended with three consecutive 5s, and had SIX 5s over all, with an amazingly solid opening, and a good ending.
-The first time I ran the scores I had "Save Me" down as a 2, when it should have been a 3. That one point difference created a .06 difference in the score, which is pretty substantial for a 1 point difference over the course of a show. It just goes to show the impact of having a "1" song over, say, a "3."

The results are a 17 song set (I didn't count the tease of Smooth Rider, only the full song, so there are two 7s in the list), with a total score of 63, giving us a concert score of ... 3.71. This show was clearly carried by a strong start, a strong end, and six songs which score in the top echelon. Thus far, then, our standings look like this:

1. Assembly Hall 2008 - 3.71
2. Noblesville 2007 - 3.43
3. Tinley Park 2006 - 3.32

I have to say that I'm not surprised this show scored this much hirer than the other two. Dave and Tim shows tend to be an opportunity to hear rarer songs and crowd pleasing songs, and if this show hadn't been close enough to Stand Up's release to influence its' set list it might have come close to scoring a 4. I'll be interested in seeing if any of the other shows come close to that score, given the large amounts of songs they have to deal with. Although, getting away from Stand Up's songs, and closer to Big Whiskey will probably serve to drive the scores up. Time will tell. Next up we have Noblesville 2008, followed by the first year I learned that doing both nights of a show was vastly superior to one night: Noblesville 2010, nights one and two. Until next time...