Dave Matthews Band – Live

Dave Matthews Band has come back into their usual, full summer tour schedule, kicking off over 30 years of performing live in Austin, TX at the newly-minted Moody Center....
Dave Matthews Band : Live
Dave Matthews Band : Live

After a slightly abridged, reshuffled tour schedule in 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions as well as positive COVID-19 cases within the band’s camp, Dave Matthews Band has come back into their usual, full summer tour schedule, kicking off over 30 years of performing live on Wednesday night, May 11th, in Austin, TX at the newly-minted Moody Center. The new world-class arena offers upwards of 15,000 seats and feels spacious despite being somewhat smaller than the now-decommissioned Frank Erwin Center. 

The theme of the night was rarities, with Matthews taking time to acknowledge the new venue, the start of a new tour, and most importantly to him right now, tacos. An unreleased track, “Madman’s Eyes”, which debuted November 2021, gives the impression that the band might be working on new material for an album. To note, last night’s tour opening show did not feature any songs from the band’s last full length studio album, 2018’s Come Tomorrow.

Dave Matthews Band
Dave Matthews

“Break For It” was the most obscure song, only having been played seven other times, with the last live performance done in 2010. “Shotgun” was also resurfaced live for the first time since 2016, as well as “Break Free”, which has only been released on DMB Live 25 in 2018

Fans that follow Dave Matthews Band from show-to-show are always excited to listen for teases, bridges and segues into crowd favorite songs. Last night’s show was no exception, with “Kill The Preacher” building into a dark, demonic anticipation of ‘something.’ Matthews soloed acoustically until a sudden-segue to 2009’s “Why I Am”, which is homage to the late LeRoi Moore, the band’s original saxophone player who tragically died after an ATV accident in 2008.

Moody Theater

The band’s summer tour continues an additional two dates in Texas (the Cynthia Mitchell Woodlands Pavilion on 5/13/22 and Dallas’ Dos Equis Pavilion on 5/14/22), before making their way around the entire country, including several day stops at perennial favorites Alpine Valley Music Theatre and Saratoga Performing Arts Center in July and the Gorge Amphitheatre and Hollywood Bowl in September.

Dave Matthews Band

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