2010 DMB Riverbend: Billies Good, Barnes Bad
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at 1:29AM 
My 2010 Dave Matthews Band summer tour continues with Cincinnati. Tonight was my ninth straight show at Riverbend. One of the crappiest venues that has hosted some of my best shows ever.
SHOW #97 Riverbend Music Center 6.15.10
Tonight I sat with Huff, Taryn, and near a lot of other great peeps including Dan, Gater and Rob from dmbalmanac.com(greatest site on the web!) We were in third row behind the pit dead center. Great seats for sure. Thanks Jeff for hooking us up!
DMB has some great openers. It is always hard for me to pick my top 3-5. JTR would have to be up there. I was pretty excited to see the Big 12 string sitting on the stand. That guarantees you an awesome opener. It didn’t disappoint. I just love that ending breakdown.
Proudest Monkey was in the two spot. It’s another one of my favorites. I love the older songs. Surprisingly I actually really enjoyed Satellite. Normally a song I dislike, but I really liked it tonight.
I thought Lying in the Hands of God was easily the best version I have ever gotten. Jeff Coffin just owned this as usual. Such powerful lyrics. It didn’t drag on as long as SPAC. I really love the look of Dave’s new Gibson raised B guitar.
After three straight Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King songs they started playing an unfamiliar song. I thought it was Can’t Stop at first. It turned out to be Break For It. This was only the third time it has ever been played. You may remember this tune being sounchecked a lot in 2006 but never played live or recorded on the BWGK album. It’s a very groovy tune that at least to me has a distinct Sting/Police feel to it. I would like to get it again live to get a better feel for it.
By this time a pretty large storm rolled through Cincy. I felt so bad for those in the lawn. They must have been miserable in the downpour. Why people wouldn’t pay a few more bucks for pavilion seats is beyond me. At times the rain even blew sideways misting us…it felt great in the heat of the night!
Now for the highlight of the night…Dave says after Break For It…”That’s Boyd Tinsley on violin” I knew what was coming…TRIPPING BILLIES!! Everyone knows it’s my favorite. The crowd was really into it. Boyd of course was great on it, and I love that I have gotten Billies my last two shows.
Taryn was with me and one of her favorites is Seven. They normally play that in the 2 or 3 spot, so she even figured we weren’t going to get it. However, right after Billies they start Seven. Taryn and I got our two favorites back to back. All of us in our section were screaming the lyrics to Seven. Love that song!
What happens next may be hard to describe. You will probably have to hear the tape (I believe my buddy Mike Peters was only taper tonight). There was a small Halloween chant, and orange lights go on Carter Beauford and he hits the drums in what seemingly sounds like the intro to Halloween. Obviously we were all excited. Then Carter starts hitting the higher sounding drums and it sounds just like intro to Say Goodbye. Now we are all excited!! Come on either one!!! Everyone is saying…”This is Say Goodbye!” (enter sound of Price Is Right Loser noise) Only for it to go into Gravedigger. Don’t get me wrong, I like Gravedigger. However, after thinking we were going to get one of two rare songs, this was a HUGE letdown.
For me the show never really bounced back to first half form. Danny Barnes came on stage to guest on the banjo for Corn Bread. They have just overplayed that song. Then Barnes played one of his own songs called Road. It was alright, but I feel like I didn’t pay for a ticket to watch someone else perform their song in the middle of DMB’s set. Unfortunately, my next three shows are more Barnes guesting. Which means more Corn Bread and more of either Road or Caveman. UGH.
Midset Ants was great, and the outro was very different. I like watching Carter and reading his lips as he tells everyone how many beats. Ants was awesome. I do not like Stay as a closer. It’s just not strong enough in my opinion to end a set.
The encore was solid with Time Bomb/Watchtower. I love Watchtower, but as I have said before, I hate that they didn’t play Stairway to Heaven in the middle, especially after doing it on Sunday at Bonnaroo.
I’m still chasing Busted Stuff. I hope we get some rarities tomorrow, but one night tour stops are a crap shoot. I’m heading over with Ryan, Kyle, and Minime. My brother Ryan will also be there.
See ya at St. Louis tomorrow!
Reader Comments (4)
Hey!
Don't feel too bad for those of us on the lawn! We always have a great time out there and have plenty room to dance and jive and don't have to walk as far for beverages or the bathroom! :)
The rain was actually very refreshing after the horrendous heat and humidity Cincinnati has experienced the past week or so. The lightning, albeit sometimes worrisome, just made things much exciting. I must tell you that singing along to "Lying in the Hands of God" with the rain falling was nearly a religious experience. That song just has some amazing shifts and lyrics. I actually started to tear up. II went to wipe away a tear and I thought, why bother, I'm completely drenched!
BTW, the rain began right after Dave did his "rain dance" by singing JTR....rain, rain, rain down on me...and it did. We got a few breaks in the rain, but after seeing Dave there over 10 times in the past 14 years, the rain doesn't stop you from enjoying DMB! I will say that I laughed heartily about your commment about Riverbend being one of the worst venues but that it has produced some of the best shows. Having grown up in the Cincinnati area, I agree with you on Riverbend, but, it is really old (I saw concerts like Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Huey Lewis, Duran Duran & Def Leppard there in the 80s as a teen). Still, the sound quality is great on the lawn.
In terms of paying a few extra bucks to sit in the pavillion, you can only GET pavillion if you are a Warehouse member (which I was long ago and dropped the subscription due to low funds in grad school) or if you go through a ticket broker or ebay. Did pavillion at Noblesville in 2008, but I work in the low paying field of higher education and haven't had the funds to get closer to Dave. Someday, though...someday!
Sincerely,
Maryanne White
Cincinnati, Ohio
durhamdevil1972@yahoo.com
dmbbluedevil on Ants Marching.org :)
What time have they going on stage, if you can remember? I do not get off work until 7 and am worried by the time I get home, change, get to the show, park and find a seat I will miss something. Thank you!
Opening act is from 7:00-7:45pm. DMB is on stage around 8:21pm usually. Lately it seems closer to 8:30pm.
Which show are you going to Jack?
Hey, you said your friend taped it? Where can i find that?! I've been dying to know!