The Dave Matthews Band gave it everything it had for three hours Wednesday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock, and 6,902 people lapped it up eagerly, even without some of the hits fans had perhaps hoped to hear, including "Satellite," "Crash Into Me," "What Would You Say" and "Ants Marching."
Instead, the band played, well, what it wanted to play. At one point, Matthews said "We're going to play a slow one now, because we want to."
They were courageous enough to play several new songs, including the promising "Bismarck," either about the city in North Dakota or the lovely crossroad area south of Hot Springs.
Songs included "Jimi Thing," "You & Me," "Gravedigger" and a cover of Prince's "Sexy M.F.," while new songs included "Death on the High Seas," "Samurai Cop" -- a tribute to what Matthews called "one of the worst movies ever" -- and one he explained the band was just calling "Blah Blah Blah."
Matthews, with his multitalented voice, soared above his fine musicians, although his guitar playing could seldom be heard, but guitarist Tim Reynolds got several star turns that were stunning. The horn players soared on many a song, especially Rashawn Ross, who somehow played two trumpets at once on one song. Bassist Stefan Lessard, who helped found the band, got some intriguing solos, while Carter Beauford pounded out some fine rhythm even though he spared the audience the sometimes obligatory drum solos.
The star player in Matthews' band was clearly violinist Boyd Tinsley, who would be a fine candidate for a solo show, if he even did such things. His intense, amazing playing challenged Matthews and the others and made a good show something far superior.
Just as memorable as the music was the light show, which ranged from pretty pastels reminiscent of a Christmas tree to lasers, patterns and things that just tickled one's imagination. And while it appeared early in the show that there were no fancy video screens, one suddenly roared to life several songs into the show.
The 23-song set ended with a two-song encore of "Dive In" and a song the Dave Matthews Band closed with seven years ago when it played at Dickey-Stephens Park, a ferocious version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
It's likely that there were "Deadheads" in the audience, who were no doubt grateful -- so to speak -- that the Dave Matthews Band has picked up the gauntlet of playing hard, fast, long and well.
Metro on 05/20/2016