So Much To Say

Yesterday was the big show I've been very excited about. The Allman Brothers Band and the Dave Matthews Band concert at Piedmont Park. It was great! The weather was outstanding. It was warm during the late afternoon, but once the sun set it was perfect. I swear, there were way more than 50,000 people there.

We were able to plop our blanket down in what ended up being the middle of the crowd. We were in a good position to see all of the screens, but far enough that the bands looked really small.

The Allman Brothers Band came on a few minutes late, which was great for us, because we were running a bit late ourselves. They played some really good songs, Hot 'lanta, Statesboro Blues, Hoochie Coochie Man, Midnight Rider, One Way Out, and did Whipping Post as their encore. I was not pleased that they ended their set without playing Melissa. That was totally made up for later. The band sounded great, and Gregg Allman's voice sounded great, too.

The stage setup was nice. There was one large screen on stage, behind the performers, then two screens high, beside the stage. There was also a high screen in the middle of the meadow.

DMB played a really good set. Warren Hayes jammed out with the band on What Would You Say, and Gregg Allman came out and performed Melissa with them. That was completely wonderful, it sounded so amazing hearing both of them singing the lyrics. Dave said it was one of his favorite songs ever written. I liked Cornbread a lot better with the live band, than just the acoustic version on the new Radio City CD. It was a lot of fun. Don't Drink the Water sounded really, really good. I thought it sounded much better than a couple of other live versions I've seen and heard. The series of So Much to Say, Too Much, and Warehouse were a lot of fun. Once we heard So Much to Say, we knew what was coming up next. He also played his new single Eh Hee. I'd not heard it yet, but liked it. I actually grabbed it from iTunes this morning.

It had been several years since I'd seen DMB perform. I saw them several times when I was living in Nashville. I really think this was the best performance I've seen. The crowd was great, the sound was wonderful and it looked like they were all having a lot of fun on stage.