blendnewyork…Fashion.Art.Style.Inspiration.Love

This year’s Bonnaroo, with a lineup that veered deeper than ever into indie, hip-hop, and country, left Dave Matthews Band with the burden of waving the festival’s jam band flag, filling the oft-jammy Sunday night anchor slot on the “What” stage with a set that reminded some 90,000 people more about how DMB got there than why they’re worth paying attention to in 2010.

“It smells good here,” Matthews quipped in his goofy drawl. “Herb and body odor. And every now and then, ‘What the fuck?’

And there were a lot of “what the fuck” moments during the Charlottesville, Virginia-based band’s two-hour-plus set– i.e., just about every time they played something from the past decade. Aside from the slinky growl of “Why I Am,” off 2009′s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, much of Matthews’ latest material sounded like retreads of the songs that helped him surge to headliner status.

“Shake Me Like a Monkey,” also off GrooGrux, was all brassy bravado and upbeat shuffle, and cut from the same cloth of Matthews’ far superior 1996 single “Too Much,” which he played later. Similarly, “So Damn Lucky,” off Matthews’ 2003 solo album Some Devil, had folks craving “Satellite,” DMB’s quintessential ballad.

But when the hits came, they came hot and heavy.

“Two Step” might be the best expression of what Dave Matthews Band is all about: escaping dark places (in this case embodied by Boyd Tinsley’s violin plucking) and finding the joy in life. “Celebrate we will, ” Matthews sang in the boogie-worthy chorus, “for life is short but sweet for certain.”

Fans soaked up the similar sentiment of “Tripping Billies” (“Why would you care to get out of this place? You and me and all our friends, such a happy human race”) before a four-piece horn section blew the roof off “Jimi Thing,” and the whole band dissolved into a funk groove, riffing gleefully off Prince’s “Sexy M.F.” and its grind-able hook: “Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass.”

And while the ass-shaking abilities of the crowd were limited after a scorchingly hot weekend in the muddy, debris-filled festival grounds, Matthews’ set was just fine as Bonnaroo’s digestif. “We’re like the cheese after the dessert,” Matthews said. “A little sparkling wine.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Lying in the park on a beautiful day
Sunshine in the grass, and the children play
Sirens passing, fire engine red
Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this

The evening comes and we’re hanging out
On the front step and a car goes by with the windows rolled down
And that war song is playing, “why can’t we be friends?”
Someone is screaming and crying in the apartment upstairs

Funny the way it is, if you think about it
Somebody’s going hungry and someone else is eating out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
Somebody’s heart is broken and it becomes your favorite song

The way your mouth feels in your lover’s kiss
Like a pretty bird on a breeze or water to a fish
A bomb blast brings a building crashing to the floor
You hear the laughter while the children play war

Funny the way it is, if you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born

Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing under me
It must’ve been much harder when there was no bridge just water
Now the world is small, remember how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and stars

Watch the sky, the jet planes, so far out of my reach
Is there someone up there looking down on me?
Boy chase a bird, so close but every time
He’ll never catch her, but he can’t stop trying

Funny the way it is, if you think about it
One kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
On a soldier’s last breath his baby’s being born
Funny the way it is, not right or wrong
Somebody’s broken heart becomes your favorite song
Funny the way it is, if you think about it
A kid walks 10 miles to school, another’s dropping out

Standing on a bridge, watch the water passing under me
It must’ve been much harder when there was no bridge just water
Now the world is small, remember how it used to be
With mountains and oceans and winters and rivers and stars

Be Sociable, Share!

•