GEORGE – Music is therapy for The Dave Matthews Band.
The band’s concert at the Gorge Amphitheatre Friday could have been a sad occasion considering less than two weeks ago founding DMB member, saxophonist LeRoi Moore, died after sustaining injuries during an ATV accident earlier this summer. Instead, Moore’s former band members used the power of music to heal during a touching 20-song set that was equal parts tribute and celebration of a fallen friend.
The show fittingly started with “Bartender.” Hearing Matthews sing the song’s opening lines “If I go before I’m old/Oh brother of mine don’t forget me if I go” knowing he recently lost a close friend, was one of the night’s many moving moments.
Following “You Might Die Trying,” the fifth song in the set, Matthews addressed the crowd and talked about his lost bandmate.
“We’ve had a tough little while recently,” he said. “I don’t know if you knew my friend Roi like I did, but he had the most outrageous laugh. When he laughed he busted into laughter that would knock him off his feet. If he was sitting it would knock his a– out of his seat.”
While the gravity of Moore’s death was impossible to ignore (multiple times during the show fans broke into chants of “LeRoi”) Matthews and his six-piece band were able to have a good time while putting on an immensely enjoyable show.
Matthews’ goofy dancing made him look like a monkey having a seizure, which made him very fun to watch. His playful facial gestures and scat-like singing during “Cornbread” were signs to fans that it’s still okay to have a good time while mourning.
Guitarist Tim Reynolds was all smiles during several sizzling solos and violinist Boyd Tinsley was also grinning from ear to ear for most of the show.
Based on their demeanor alone, it was obvious the band was escaping their grief and beginning to heal by playing music.
Prior to the encore the band went silent and three images of Moore appeared on a large video screen. The sold out crowd of more than 20,000 broke out into another chant of “LeRoi,” and then something unusual happened.
The fans at the top of the Gorge’s hill spontaneously threw thousands of neon green, orange and purple glow sticks into the sky. Once a glow stick landed another fan would pick it up and throw it back in the air, and then another fan would pick it up and chuck it into the sky and so on. The glow sticks eventually made their way from the top of the hill to the lower floor level.
At times the sky looked like it was being invaded by a psychedelic army of fireflies, while at other times the flurry of colors created the surreal visual effect of a laser show being cast beneath a canopy of stars. It was truly a remarkable sight to behold and it caused a 10-minute delay in the show while the neon showers rained down on the crowd.
Following the impromptu fan tribute, Jeff Coffin, sax player for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones who has been sitting in with DMB for most of the tour, proved to be a capable replacement for Moore during DMB staple “#41.”
Aside from the DMB staples there were a few covers in the set list too. Pink Floyd’s “Money” got the jam band treatment with every musician chiming in with some semblance of a solo. The Talking Heads’ “Burning Down The House” was a nice surprise in the set. The lead vocalist for the song was surprise too: trumpet player Rashawn Ross.
By the time the show ended with the one-two combo of “Gravedigger” and “Don’t Drink The Water” it was clear that while Moore may be gone, he will not be forgotten by Matthews, his band, or fans.
Dave Matthews Band set list
Bartender
Proudest Monkey
Satellite
So Damn Lucky
You Might Die Trying
Old Dirt Hill
Corn Bread
Eh Hee
Water Into Wine
Dancing Nancies
Burning Down The House (Talking Heads cover)
Lover Lay Down
Help Myself
#41
Crash Into Me
Money (Pink Floyd cover)
Anyone Seen The Bridge
Too Much To Say (intro only)
Tripping Billies
ENCORE
Gravedigger
Don’t Drink the Water
