my last dave matthews concert

On the Dave Matthews concert: To be honest, I’m pretty burned out on Dave Matthews. How long have I been listening to him? Ten years? Since college at least. I remember Jimmy Hatter playing one of his song for me for the first time while driving in Louisville. He’d heard him while in Seattle. So the next week I went to a record store looking for his stuff.

Saw him in concert five times. The first time was a birthday gift from Susi. Coming full circle - eight or nine years later, a buddy from college calls me to tell me he got me tickets to a concert in Charlotte for my birthday.

So I head down, excited to see my friend but not exactly chomping at the bit to see Dave in concert. Five times was plenty to my mind - and on top of that, most of Dave’s new stuff didn’t do much for me. I don’t think I even bought the last album.

I say all that to say this - the concert was great. It was just Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds on a small stage, playing acoustic guitars, singing, and talking. Very low key. A couple of high energy moments, but for the most part a real mellow show. It had been a long time since I listened to Dave with any real attention - so every time he played a song, I got to sit there and say, “Oh yeah! I remember this one! I used to love this song!”

Matt and I had a good time. On the half mile walk back to our car, we encouraged everyone we met to “rock out with your cock out.” We had to take Matt’s boss’ son with us. He was a douche bag. And I think I got a venereal disease just by looking at his girlfriend - as she sat there in the back of the car, sipping Michelobe Light from a 20 oz can, and regaling us with stories of drunken teenage lust between handfuls of pork rinds. She made me feel old - and I thanked her for it.