A Strange Evening in Hershey...

[DMBzilla]

Just back from the show a bit ago, and I'm not tired so I figured I'd write a review of what could best be called a strange show. Went with my pops tonight, and it was his first show since '99 at the Vet and first time sitting up front. We got there around 6:30, avoiding the rain and getting a nice parking spot in the behind-the-stage lot (easy out after the show).

Black Crowes were cool, but I would've enjoyed a longer set/more "hits." I like the Crowes quite a bit, but for an opening slot like that I would've liked to have heard Hard to Handle or She Talks to Angels. Got Remedy though, so that was cool, and not to create rumor and innuendo, but I'm pretty sure Chris Robinson didn't even know what planet he was on.

As for DMB, I'm going to try to avoid a song-by-song review and focus more on the highs and lows. The best word I can use to describe the set tonight: confusing. They never really peaked, never really played that huge show-stopper (until the encore anyway), but had what I found to be a nice and relaxing flow throughout the night. ODH was a strange choice for an opener, but certainly better this tour than it's been in the past. The run from Everyday through OOMH was pretty standard. The band played each song well (YMDT was very nice tonight, as was Bartender) but nothing too out of the ordinary. At that point, I was thinking to myself, "Okay, they're about halfway through, nothing special so far and all 'new' songs, let's see what happens..."

Nancies was a big turning point. Really nice version, and definitely got the die-hards more interested. Even still, this was a more chill version than I'm used to, but that went nicely with the overall mood of the show. Then, Typical. I was like a little kid again when I heard the first few notes -- definitely one of my all-time favorites, and this version was up there with the best I've seen. Tim was strong all the way through, and the band sounded really tight, especially for such a shocker (to my knowledge it wasn't soundchecked before it was played). Definitely the moment of the night for me.

From there on, the show continued with alot of strong, tight playing from everyone on stage. Jimi was very good tonight, ASTB was excellent (Stefan literally rocked all the way over to Boyd's side, which I've never seen him do), and the encore speaks for itself. We started making our way out of the front towards the gate out as Two Step ended, and turned around 3 steps from the exit at the start of Ants. Nice to see them mixing it up and rocking the more traditional version tonight instead of the new D&T intro (which I also like alot, but saw at Camden and SPAC).

For me, the biggest downside tonight was the crowd around me in Section B. That's not to say everyone there was bad, but I feel like Warehouse must have mixed up the seating tonight with new and old members. There were alot of casual fans down there, far too many teenie-boppers, and just general annoying idiots. Case in point: 2 rows behind us there was a group of teenagers that repeatedly yelled for songs while they were already playing. That gets old real quick. Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned, but they were having all kinds of equipment troubles tonight. Boyd's violin didn't work early in the set, Dave needed a new guitar 3 times, and Fonzie had his shit worked on a couple times as well, needing to switch basses at least once. I guess the rain may have been to blame, but it was very odd. Dave was visibly pissed during Too Much, but tried to mask his displeasure by putting his guitar on top of his head and dancing like a freak.

All in all, it was a lengthy, chill show with a very nice vibe all night. Not the best show of the tour, but certainly not the worst either. I wish I didn't have to wait until Dallas to see them again (for my 100th DMB show ), but this was a nice way to end my June run.

[DmBand801]

I took my dad too - it was his first show. He said he really enjoyed it, especially nancies.

[EPLiverpool8]

strange ideeed.

thanks for the reiveiw....hope your 100th is killer

[dwdrums36]

100 shows....Jeez man congratulations. Someone give this man a medal or cookie please! ENJOY DALLAS! Nice review too. More helpful than the song by song I think.

[cheech820]

I loved what I heard at Hershey. I thought Hershey was better then Camden, NJ on 6/4.

I bought tickets from StubHub for Section B Row 10 (paid $502.95 for 2), got sent Section B Row 15 instead. Was pissed I got f*cked like that but LOVE DMB and went anyway with the tickets I had in hand. 15 minutes into the set someone showed up with the same tickets as mine, and Hershey investigated and found mine to be fake. I got f*cked over by StubHub.

[davehead86]

U need to report that person to Stubhub. They will take care of them.

[wampa3]

Nice review buddy, I was up in the grandstands section 7 and tried to spot you up front but couldn't find you. Definitely not the best show I've seen but the end of the show was unbelievable.

[weabs13]

Since there is already about 6,000 Hershey review threads, I figured I would post my opinion of the show with the review that i felt to be most accurate.

1. I think its pretty clear by now that the opening stretch of songs was awful. Nothing screams lazy, generic, bucket full of shit, pop music more than Old Dirt Hill does. I dont even think the casual fans enjoyed.

Everyday might actually be an ok song if #36 had never existed. However, every time I hear it, I can't help but think the fantastic song that was destroyed because of it.

2. The rest of the show was decent. Typical situation was a good surprise that I really enjoyed and of course the encore was great as well. Cornbread is becoming tired, OMH is boring, and WAYG has and always will be simply terrible. So Damn Lucky and Eh Hee were ok, but I still like the D&F versions better.

3. The song that I probably enjoyed the most was Money. The song that most of the crowd probably enjoyed the least was Money. Tim Reynolds is an absolute wizard and nothing shows off his skills better than this song. Most of the people around me didn't even know it was a Pink Floyd song, and just thought it was new DMB.

4. The majority of the crowd was awful. I was surrounded by aviator sun-glass wearing, chain smoking, coors light vomiting 17 year olds. Before, after, and during songs I was forced to listen to the girls behind me talk about how someone named Katie posted a slutty picture of herself on her myspace (OMFG!!!). Fans cheered more for WAYG than for Typical Situation. It seems like the number of casual fans increases at shows each year.

5. The band performed the songs really really well. TR was probably the highlight of the show. It was the best i've heard from Roi since 2003, and Dave, Carter, Stefan, and Boyd were solid.

The show brought 2 concerns to my mind:
-I can't help but think the reason for the lack of variation between the set lists from night to night is because of the lights show. The lighting is so well choreographed with the music, anything out of the ordinary wouldn't seem quite right.
-The band is having a difficult time varying the set lists to appease both the hardcore antsmarching.org fans and the casual fans. For example, typical situation is loved by most of us and disliked by casual fans. Casual fans love WAYG and we hate it.

Overall the show was ok. Grading from the quality of songs songs, how well the songs were performed, and the crowd, I would probably give the show a C.

I have been going to 1 show a summer since 2002 when I was 16. Now, that I am 22, this might have been my last. It wasn't even that bad of a show, but after last night and the only show I went to last year, Camden n1 (the show was a bad as the set list looks), the band just doesn't excite me anymore.