DMB in Roma

So if some of you saw the picture I tweeted yesterday, you could guess who I saw. I am a bit disappointed nobody took a guess at it in the comments though.

So yesterday I went to see Dave Matthews Band play in Rome. What an experience.

I have been to a few DMB shows in the past, so this wasn't my first time with Dave, and I know what to expect from his performance: A 3 hour set of jamming, dancing, and lots of solos. Really incredible stuff. This is though the first time I've seen him out of the states, and it is what made it so special.

Dave Matthews Band hasn't played in Rome for 12 years, so this was a big deal to have him back in Rome. For his European tour he is playing in 4 different Italian cities: pretty cool.

The Venue:
The Venue for the show was the 1960 Olympic Basketball Stadium, which is now called the Palalottomatica, which is a new name after the sponsors of a modern renovation. It is an indoor stadium which seats 9,800 for a basketball game. For comparison, The Pavillion at Villanova seats 6,500 and the Wachovia Center seats 21,600 for a basketball game. So this stadium is relatively small.
Actually, it was very small considering what I'm used to seeing big bands like DMB play in. We walked in and I was overwhelmed with how close we already were to the stage. We had general admission standing-room seats on the floor, so we quickly pushed forward as far as we could go. We got to about 15 rows of people back from the stage, the closest I've been for a DMB show. The stadium was not crowded at all, maybe 3,000 people. I was very surprised by this, mostly because I'm used to all DMB shows being sold out and in much larger venues. The small venue and small crowd was really nice though, it made it feel really intimate, even though it was still with a couple thousand people I felt much more connected.

The Crowd:
Speaking of the crowd, I decided they don't know how to go to a concert. The Italians I mean. There were a lot of American students there, which is no surprise, but just by looking in the crowd you could tell the Italians from the Americans. DMB shows are one big jam-fest, with the crowd dancing and singing along, constantly cheering for all sorts of reasons. The Italians don't get this. I think they look at it as some American Rock Star, and they've heard his studio albums and like his music. His studio albums are good, but the band is known for their live performances, and they tend to have much more energy than any studio album could ever get across. The Italians stood there awkwardly and just listened. They sang every once and a while, the choruses of Dave's most popular songs, but otherwise they were relatively silent. We once got shushed (is that the proper spelling?) inbetween songs when the stage was dark and the band wasn't playing. I'm still not sure why.

The Music:

Dave has never failed to impress me. The band for that matter, because it is a large band, has never failed to impress me. From Dave's crazy dancing and skat-like rapping to Carter's Drum Solos to Tim and Jeff's guitar/sax battles, they keep the music coming hard and never even leave a second for you to become bored with the song. They played 17 songs over 3 hours, many of them lasting for much longer than their studio versions, but you never get that sense that you are ready for the song to end. They are so dynamic and improv so well that you can't help but wonder what solo is coming next rather than wonder what song is coming next. By the end of the show it is a whirlwind of incredible music skillfully crafted and planned out specifically for that night.

The Setlist (if you don't know the music, feel free to skip this, there's also the setlist here:
17 songs over 3 hours, yes that is a lot of jamming out. They started off with 3 songs of their newest album, "Big Whiskey and the Gru Grux King". "Lying in the Hands of God" as their opener, followed by fan favorites "Shake me Like a Monkey" "Funny the Way it Is". He then went back to some popular older songs, including "Seven" and "Warehouse", then he threw "Alligator pie" in there. "You Might Die Trying" was followed by a great rendition of "The Maker" A cover of Daniel Lanois, which I have heard in recordings before but never personally. Next Came my personal favorite, "Don't Drink the Water" which is so well written and takes you through a wide variety of emotions and energy, from mellow to the point of complete chaos. Then came "Why I Am" my favorite off the new album. Dave Finished strong (when does he not) with "Crash Into Me", "Crush", "Spaceman", "Grey Street" and "Two Step". Each song had longer and longer solos and he ended on such an energy. Dave then came out for the encore and played "Baby Blue" solo, then rocked out "Jimi Thing" with the band for what seemed to be at least fifteen minutes. Overall an incredible setlist, there isn't a song I felt didn't fit or I would have left out.

Enjoy some videos/pictures I took with my phone at the show. They're not the best quality, but I enjoy looking back on them and you may like seeing what I saw. If you've never been to a DMB show, please take a look if only for a second (I will keep posting more, getting them from the phone to the internet is not a fast process) And if you hear a beautiful voice singing along, disregard that (also, yes lots of side notes, I apologize for the jittery video, I wasn't focused on taking it):

http://picasaweb.google.com/ramlax13/DMBInRome#