Re: *** Official Virginia Beach 2018 Thread ***
Such a disappointing set. So many repeats from Bristow. Played all of their most commonly played songs. JTR, Raven, Pig, Rhyme and Reason, Lover Lay Down, Stone, and other amazing rare songs are all getting plays recently, and Dave leaves it all on the shelf for the 10,000th Cornbread, Jimi, and You and Me. This band is not worth traveling to see multiple shows anymore.
I don’t think the band “sounds great” this year like I hear constantly. I mean they aren’t buzzing notes all over the place or playing out of tune or anything if that’s what you mean, but I think one should be able to expect that for what they charge for tickets. After 3 shows this year, here are common trends that I’m hearing in the sound of 2018 DMB:
- Rashawn has pushed the saxophone out of this band. Every song now features a trumpet solo instead of a sax solo where there’s a spot for it. On the rare occasion Jeff does play, Rashawn comes in over him within a few seconds. Rashawn fucking sucks and somehow Dave is cool with giving the direction of this band over to him. Fuck his trumpet. He can play incredibly well when he wants to, but he’s too addicted to the rubes who yell every time they hear a loud noise. Your blaring sucks, Rashawn.
- You can barely hear Buddy, and when you can his playing is not good IMO. Can this guy ever hold a freaking note? Listen to Cornbread from last night if you dare. Buddy hits the same 3 notes for about 8 minutes. So uncreative and uninspired. It’s just frantic tapping on the organ but never deep, sustained piano. Butch was so much better. Buddy is a great singer though, but you can only hear him on Stay. DMB backup vocals are a joke. Do you think Rashawn knows that no one can hear him when he sings? Why do they even bother?
- They play the same jams over and over. There’s no exploration on stage and no playing off each other creatively the way there used to be with Roi and Boyd. Tim does some neat stuff every now and then, but most of it is the same canned crap every night.
- Most of the show is just a loudness contest. Obviously this has been happening for years, but it’s in overdrive now. The bass drum kick is turned up so freaking loud. I think this band just wants to be a party band now and doesn’t care too much about actual musicianship. They’d rather just play to the people who came to get drunk and just want to hear some bass and a loud blaring trumpet crescendo on every song than what actually made them popular in the first place.
I had fun seeing lots of friends and meeting some great people in 2018, but I’m pretty good at this point. If they get a violin next year I might catch a show. Otherwise I’ll just put on red rocks 95 and remember when the band actually “sounded great”.
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