Dave Matthews, Dave Matthews Band - Weekend On The Rocks [live CD & DVD]
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Free Music Notes for Weekend On The Rocks [live CD & DVD]
Free Music Review: Get the complete set...
Hit: 5 Stars
A lot of people have chosen to review only what is on the 2-CD / DVD set here - but I think a case needs to be made for the complete set of all four nights available on the band's website. An obvious comparison to make is with the 6-CD set from The Gorge in 2002. Red Rocks is much, much better. First, I felt like the band was good, not great at the end of the 2002 tour and a lot of the classics had gotten a little boring. In particular, Boyd's solos had gotten stale and repetetive and Butch really didn't add much when given time to shine (especially in an excrutiatingly long and unspectacular Two Step). However, in the Red Rocks set the band doesn't sound tired after a long summer of touring...the energy is amazing and they sound fresh and energetic even in playing older tunes.
As for the songs, of course having live versions of all songs from Stand Up isthe obvious plus (with the surprising omissions of You Might Die Trying, which was played frequently during the summer tour). Some of the Stand up songs aren't much different from the album version (55th & 3rd, Steady As We Go, Old Dirt Hill). However, Lousiana Bayou and Smooth Rider have turned into great jams, particularly with the way Smooth Rider builds and builds up until the final jam. The same is true for American Baby Intro - which lasts as long as 10 minutes and is one of the better tracks. Unfortunately, the Dreamgirl jam is still somewhat lacking and a little long for the quality, but hte intro is great. Stand Up (for it) is also hig energy and sounds great with some great solos by Leroi.
For the old songs, several seem to have been given new life that they so desparately needed. It has the first Bartender to give me chills that I have heard in years. Plus, even Dancing Nancies and Warehouse have risen out of the ruts that they have been in for a few years now. Perhaps most surprisingly is the rejuvinated Two Step - where Butch finally capitalizes on his time to shine and the jam gets mixed differently at the end - one of the best versions. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Jimi Thing, where the jam has changed but now focuses on Dave's scat and the For What it's Worth outro. Also, Watchtower needs to be overhauled or dropped from setlists - it's just not exciting anymore.
Good nuggets are also scattered throughout - great covers of Time of the Season and Exodus (w/ Robert Randolph) and a cover of Blackbird are nice additions. Also included is #34 - practically brought back from the dead. It's also cool to hear the crowd chanting for Halloween up until the point that Carter starts the drum solo to intro the song...very cool.
All in all - the band sounds awesome and excited about all the songs - both new and old. I highly recommend the entire weekend at the Rocks.
Free Music Review: A little better than Gorge.
Hit: 5 Stars
Beginning with the DVD, it is above average, containing a strong performance of "Stand Up" and a blazing "Louisiana Bayou" featuring Robert Randolph. The rest of the performances are pretty good (sans a bland "Dreamgirl"), although nothing really special.
The real meat of this package, however, lies within the audio disks. The first disk opens with a haunting "The Stone," which shows a more creativity in the running order than the Gorge (an opening PNP-->Repunzel... again?). Most of the first disk is gold, except for "Hunger...", which I never really cared for in the first place. The biggest gem here is "#34", which before this summer's tour was an extreme rarity, having never been played once in over 10 years. The disk also contains another song often played during the Summer tour, a fine cover of the Zombies' "Time of the Season". The disk brilliantly closes out with an epic "Bartender", a song I was desperately beginning to miss from the live releases.
The second disk starts off slow. "Pig" is an awesome song, and is performed well here, except that Dave's voice cracks occasionally and can distract from the strength of the rest of the performance. This is pretty much the same case with the version of "You Never Know" that follows it and a few other songs on the disk. However, "#41" is awesome here, and as far as the official live releases go, it is only surpassed by the version on Live in Chicago, IMO. This disk contains another rarity, "Halloween", and also a jammed out "Smooth Rider" (a song that was only a couple of minutes long on the album, here it clocks in at 12 minutes). And then, a solid version of "Everyday" to close it out.
A worthy purchase for DMB fans, if only for the fact that the majority of the songs either haven't been officially released live before (the Stand Up songs), or haven't been released many times (The Stone, Say Goodbye). Also contains a few rarities.
Free Music Review: Stellar!
Hit: 5 Stars
I am huge Hi Fi nut and even bigger Dave Mathews Band fan. I also try to choose wisely when it comes to purchasing CD's and DVD's that are at a high enough standard for me to play and enjoy at home. Saying all that I bought this CD in hopes that the DVD and CD's would sound great and guess what? They do! I will start by mentioning that with this collection you get to hear Dave and the Band perform the classic hit "Time Of The Season" both on CD and DVD (Awesome). For a live album this has to be their best and I have them all. The DVD is very well done so much so I would have bought it seperatley if I knew it was this good. The picture is very clean and crisp and with the choice of 5.1 and PSM audio this is a great deal. The camera work is done with the listener and watcher in mind and is quite well done. With the panning and zooming kept to a minumum I was able to really feel what it would be like on stage looking at the crowd rock'n away to "Crash Into Me" and observing Dave and all the talented musicians facial expresions and really enjoy jamm'n (wow). If your a sax fan you will without a doubt enjoy this compilation. If there will be a full lenght DVD of this concert I would be all over it.Free Music Review: Louisiana Bayou. 'Nuff said.
Hit: 5 Stars
First let me reiterate that if you had any doubts about the integrity of "Stand up," this should effectively dispel them. The Stand Up songs (Like most other Dave songs) are infinitely better when recorded and performed live.
Everybody Wake Up and Smooth Rider are enhanced by great jam sessions. Disc 1 closes with a brilliant rendition of Bartender, and includes a strong cover of Time of the Season.
Jimi Thing was amazing as a closer for the DVD. Dave looks ecstatic as the band plays a stop-start jam similar to Folsom Field's Warehouse intro. Dave eventually breaks down into a long scat sesh and transitions smoothly into an incredible For What Its Worth outro to conclude the DVD. Breathtaking.
For me however the highlite was undoubtedly on the DVD. Louisiana Bayou features an absolutely chilling jam session featuring Boyd, Dave, and Robert Randolf, who absolutely rocks out on his pedal steel guitar. Boyd, famous for his brilliant violin solos, even took a step back, seemingly overwhelmed by Randolph's energy. If it sounds good on the CD, its even better on the DVD.
Free Music Review: This Is Gonna Get Ugly.....
Hit: 5 Stars
As with any Dave Matthews Band Album, you always have the people who absolutely hate it and the people that absolutely adore it. This is going to be another one of those times and I don't know why. This is actual music, with real playing and jamming, without a machine in the back to help them sing or play better. Most of the "music" around today is artifical, with the artist mainly in it for the money, not the music. I really like Dave Matthews Band, and regardless of what people thought of Stand Up, I thought it was fantastic. If you did too, then you will find a good number of those songs on this collection, all performed superbly live. It takes real talent to just jam along on a song and improvise musically right on the spot. As it always has been and will probably never change, people who are previous fans will compare this to previous albums and people that hate them will continue to hate them. Regardless of the greatness that this album is, the star rating will be low just based on thoughts of people without listening to it.