Press: Bryce Jordan VfC Review

[LaurieBlue]

Posted on Sat, Oct. 02, 2004

Concert Review
Concert late-comers missed novelty in openers

By Gisela Garcia
ggarcia@centredaily.com

By 8 p.m. Friday, more than 15,000 seats were full at the Bryce Jordan Center for the Vote For Change concert, just in time for the Dave Matthews Band's performance.

The concert really began at 6:15 p.m., however.

When openers My Morning Jacket took the stage, presented by Matthews himself, they faced less than 1,000 filled seats. Similarly, hip-hop group Jurassic 5 found the crowd had grown only slightly. Even Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, an act with a bit more fame than the first two, saw many seats empty.

Predictably, the opening acts were neglected by Matthews' fans, who poured in by the time Harper started winding down.

Understandably so. The Dave Matthews Band are veterans, and well-loved by their fans. When they take the stage, it's like catching a rerun of your favorite sitcom: No surprises or sudden twists, just the basics you've come to know, love and take for granted.

But any unexpected bells and whistles would have no doubt alienated the more than 15,000 conditioned and revering fans present that night.

If they had only arrived a few hours earlier, they would have found a novelty in the openers that the Dave Matthews Band lacks with its experience.

First on the bill, My Morning Jacket, from Louisville, Ky., is a frizzy-haired quintet that looked and felt straight out of the early 1970s. They gave a strong performance reminiscent of a more ambient-driven Peter Frampton, with wailing guitars, a pulsating bass and intense jam sessions, as if unaware of the sparse crowd.

With My Morning Jacket's final song, the stage revolved 180 degrees, revealing two turntables and a pair of DJs clearly on top of their art. Out came Jurassic 5, a classy barbershop quartet-meets-hip hop act with a heavy dependence on samples of music from the 1930s. Though the crowd was at first demure, Jurassic 5 soon had many on their feet and nodding to the creative melding of jazz, scratches and four perfectly synchronized voices.

Ben Harper and the Innocent Thieves cleansed the palate before the Dave Matthews Band took the stage, with soft reggae- or jazz-tinged songs revolving around Harper's pleading voice. Their songs were perhaps the most politically fueled, opening with "Oppression," a song about tyranny and abuse of power. Some, though, revolved around worship and love. But all of his songs were undoubtedly heartfelt, and after giddy favorite "Steal My Kisses," Harper took the time to acknowledge each and every fan, walking around the stage and climbing on top of the drums to wave.

By the time the Dave Matthews Band took the stage, the seats swelled with people but the real meat of the Vote For Change Tour had come and gone.

This is not to say that the band's Jordan Center performance was stale. The band members -- Matthews, Boyd Tinsley on violin, bassist Stefan Lessard, Leroi Moore on saxophone and drummer Carter Beauford -- played off each other beautifully, flowing through songs with ease and seasoned grace. Tinsley's violin crept and pounded through "Jimi Thing." Matthews' yowls and grimaces made the audience swoon and dance in the aisles.

But with such an adoring fan base and a flawless performance track record, they really don't need to try hard.

They covered all the bases safely, playing older and newer songs like "Too Much," "Typical Situation," "Tripping Billies" and ending with "Stay." The only semblance of anything political was during the encore -- when they began "Don't Drink The Water" with a few brief lines from "This Land is Your Land."

Otherwise, they didn't really break out of their box with anything disarmingly special at the Jordan Center -- from their musical performance right down to their reasons for playing there.

[EC]

That reminds me of how glad I was I caught the opening act of MMJ and Bare Jr. in Nashville.  My life is better for seeing Tom Heinl.  

That's a pretty nice article, save for comparing them with Peter Frampton.  Heh.

[LaurieBlue]

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2004/10/10-04-04tdc/10-04-04dnews-10.asp

[ Monday, Oct. 4, 2004 ]

'Vote for Change' entertaining, not political

Reviewed by Jason Cox  
Collegian Staff Writer
Hey, did you go to the Dave show Friday night? What's that? It was more than just a Dave show? Well, that's weird because that's all anyone referred to it as, even the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC).

The truth is, most concertgoers barely noticed the political motivations behind Friday's Vote for Change concert, a liberal fund-raising concert series -- which turned out to be a good thing.

One group who didn't overlook the politics behind the event was the Bush supporters. A few dozen conservative students set up a table outside the BJC with literature and signs professing that it was OK to like Dave Matthews Band and still be a Republican.

Once inside, however, politics took a backseat -- for the most part. Dave Matthews himself took the stage to introduce the opening act, My Morning Jacket, but not before a few words with the audience.

"The most important thing on November 2, is that you vote, whatever you vote, and do your thing," Dave said to a slowly filling BJC (apparently, people don't have the patience to sit through an entire five hour-plus show).

My Morning Jacket was a terrific opener and I feel bad for the latecomers who missed it. Blending elements of Pearl Jam (who, alas, was at another Vote for Change show that night) and Blind Melon, I was transported back to 1995.

The unresponsive audience grew in enthusiasm as Jurassic 5 treated it to an energizing set that included rapping, break dancing and beat boxing.

The set of Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals was equally as entertaining as his predecessors, if less energetic. At least Harper was conscious enough to turn around and sing to the concertgoers in seats behind the stage.

Unsurprisingly, a long wait was in store before Dave. I took this pause to scan the arena for political propaganda of any sorts and found little. One fan had a "Bush Must Go" bumper sticker plastered across her chest while another wore a shirt reading "Eat, Drink, and Vote Kerry."

Now let me make a confession. I was a DMB concert virgin. I know, it's like saying I'm a Penn Stater and never had Natty Ice. It's just that I've always shared a love/hate relationship with his music. But I'll be honest; his set was good.

Despite the fact that the band only played a handful of recognizable tunes to the casual fan, the extended jam sessions were intense and it amazed me how much a band who tours as often as DMB can still seem to enjoy it so much.

And on a side note, violinist Boyd Tinsley is the only man in the universe who has ever made me even consider wanting to learn the violin.

"You know what I think about the upcoming election, but the most important thing is that you voice your opinion," Matthews said near the end of the night.

After a fan-friendly cover of "All Along the Watchtower," the audience endured a painfully long wait before the encore, long enough to fit in long, droning chants of "we want Dave" and "we are Penn State." It was neat when I was a freshman.

The band returned to perform a long, ambient number that one could tell made sell-out fans (the kind that are like "Hey! I like 'Crash into Me!'") rather fidgety. But to make all sides happy (what a politician you are, Dave), they ended with a rousing version of "Stay" that amazingly enough, made me want to.

[kermit5247]

The MMJ set in PA (albeit 30 minutes & 5 songs long and performed to a practically empty arena as the reviewer noted) was as good as I've seen them play.  It was a disappointment that more "DAVE" fans didn't come inside to hear them.  Jurassic 5 and Ben Harper sets were fine.  DMB included ridiculous dramatic pauses between each song (which gave the shrieking tweens behind me more time to screech their lungs out).  MMJ was the reason I was there --and even that short set reminded me why I'll do my best not to miss any reasonably local shows.  I only wish they would play at the DC show at the end of the tour!

[Gala]

What a letdown! My friends and I were looking forward to this show for months! It was all our favorites in one show, mine and my best friends, being MMJ. The original plan was to fly down to New Orleans and drive out to Austin City Limits, but after I got word of this show, driving 5 hours from New York City seemed a bit more sensible.
Ofcourse we got stuck in bad traffic and were kind of stressing out about getting to the venue late, since we weren't sure who would be on first.  It was assumed it would either be Jurrasic 5 or My Morning Jacket. MMJ being the band I was looking forward to seeing the most, I put the pedal to the metal and we got to Bryce Jordan Center around 6:30. The ticket said doors open at 6, so 6:30 in "band time" is not that late. We walked in at and heard Jurrasic 5.  A huge grin came on my face...we didn't miss MMJ! We settled in our seats and took a look around at the practically empty arena anticipating MMJ to hit the stage. We were in section 127, which was kind of on the side of the stage, so all the backstage action was clearly visible. They weren't great seats, but they were pretty close to the stage and it was all I could get my hands on.  Jurrasic 5 played for another 30 minutes and the stage was being geared up to be rotated for the next band which again was supposed to be MMJ, but it was clearly not MMJ's set up!
How could we have missed them? If doors opened at 6 and they went on right on the dot at 6, wouldn't they still be playing at 6:30 or at least finishing up their set? Wrong, wrong, wrong! I'm not sure what happened, we obviously missed the MMJ set all together, which pretty much ruined my night.  
Ben Harper was on next and I just could not get into his set, which was partially due to the fact that  I was sulking over missing MMJ, but  I also think that his sound is not meant for arena type venues. He just did not sound that great, which I'm sure is not his fault. His set was also extremely short, no more then 45 minutes! By the time DMB came on, the arena was filled to a brim with preppy college kids who had the nerve to sit there and badmouth the opening bands.  Needless to say, it was extremely annoying. I just felt so out of place.  Dave Matthews Band was pretty good. Their chemistry on stage is remarkable for a band that has been playing around for a while. It was unmistakably genuine. It was my first time seeing them and I do consider myself a fan, but perhaps it was their choice of songs that left more to be desired. I can speculate about it for a while, but in conclusion I appreciated their talent and showmanship but not the whole experience. Next time, perhaps.  As far as MMJ, I hope the rest of the Vote for Change tour is a success and I can't wait to catch you live again very soon.