Joel's Review of the 12-31-96 Dave Matthews Band Show
After it was announced that the next DMB Live Trax album would be the 12/31/96 show at Hampton Coliseum we got in touch with Joel Johnson. Joel attended both the new years eve show and the 12/28/96 Winston-Salem, NC show three days prior. Joel gives his account of the evening with detail regarding all the pushing going on in the "festival-style" general admission at the venue.
Thanks a lot for the review, Joel. Wish we could have been there:
The Set Up
"The new years Eve 1996 Concert in Hampton qualifies as one of my top ten concert experiences. The decision to attend this show was actually only made after I had seen DMB play at Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Wake Forest, NC a few days earlier, on the 28th. I am sure some people would disagree with me, but there is something about the sound of DMB in an enclosed space (such as a coliseum) that I just happen to prefer over an outside venue such as an amphitheater. (I love 'em all, but I have my preferences.) That show sounded incredible.
They had toured quite a bit the entire year (the same year that Crash was released) and so were winding down the final winter leg of "inside coliseum" shows at this point. Another reason I wanted to head up to Hampton was that Bela Fleck and the Flecktones would be opening again. I had never heard them play until I saw them the night of December 28th.
I remember I was standing in line at the concession stand and all of a sudden I hear the most beautiful riffs and mix of musical styles coming from the main stage. We heard bass, drums, banjo, and horns that sounded like they were from Mars or something. I got back to my seat and just sat there amazed at what I was watching and hearing from the Flecktones. Bluegrass, jazz, funk, progressive rock.... I didn't know what it was called or classified as, but I knew I liked it. It was like the best bluegrass and jazz musicians had converged with the Barnum and Bailey circus.
The song "Stomping Ground" was in there somewhere and it just knocked me on the floor. I ended up making some more Dave friends online (DMB AOL chatroom winter 1996...good times) around the time of that show and managed to get a ticket to the general admission show for New Year's Eve in Hampton, VA. I met my new internet buddy at the Norfolk airport the evening of the concert and then we made our way to the coliseum."
At the Venue
"I remember waiting outside in the freezing cold for what seemed like hours before doors opened. I have to say, the Hampton coliseum is unique from just an architectural standpoint. It has a pretty interesting geometric pattern of glass for the external facing that just looks classy. We finally made it inside after waiting outside in the cold. We could have waited in our cars, but we would have lost our place in line...not something you want to do in a General Admission situation.
Since this was General Admission, there was a mad rush once doors opened to get to the front of the stage. There were no chairs on the lower floor section and the security guards made you sit down once you were in place. I guess this was a safety measure to prevent overcrowding. Other people filled in the rest of the coliseum. We waited on the floor with the stage set up right in front of us for quite a while. It was pretty impressive to see it all right in front of us. Then, showtime."
The Crowd Surges as DMB Takes the Stage
"The lights went out and Dave walked out with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones to introduce them to the audience. At this point, it was obvious to everyone that there might be some issues with the crowd on the floor immediately in front of the stage. At the moment the lights went out, everyone on the floor section stood up at the same time and sort of moved towards the stage. People were shoving, pushing and you felt as though you couldn't control where you were going, almost like in a river or flood of bodies. You could feel your body being squeezed and pushed. It was obvious by the looks on the faces of the musicians that they could see what was happening too.
They were looking at the crowd very carefully with almost worried looks sometimes. During the band member intros, I remember it was emphasized that Victor Wooten was from Newport News, VA, which is not far from Hampton. I made eye contact with Bela Fleck during "Stomping Ground" and tried my best to mouth the words "thanks, I love this song." Anyways, Bela and the Flecktones sounded brilliant. The Flecktones came off and we were in wait mode for DMB to come out. A short wait later and then the lights went out again for DMB.
This time the shoving, pushing and getting squeezed was really intense. There were just too many people on the floor. It wasn't completely chaotic, but it was close. Let me say at this point that I don't believe anyone was seriously hurt or that the situation was really a "show ruiner." It was a great concert experience that, for lack of a better term, was "borderline" getting out of hand. I guess that enhanced it for me, looking back at it now. I remember the band strolling out. I'm pretty sure Dave had on a tux.
The noise level from the crowd was pretty intense. So, I'm thinking "what's the opener going to be?" 50-50 chance we're getting Seek Up or Two step. The first few notes of "Seek Up" ended the speculation. The lone Chet Atkins SST guitar is suddenly accompanied by the rhythm section with a powerful boom of a bass guitar note and drums. This overpowers the crowd volume for a few seconds. Seek Up sounded great. (Sorry people, I'm a fan of the Gibson Chet Atkins SST days.) I think you could tell Dave was a little concerned with what was happening and he actually said something to the crowd between songs.
On one occasion it was something along the lines of or close to: "Ya'll need to look after each other and not push. You big strong, drunk guys need to chill out." I do specifically remember him shouting out away from the microphone on a few instances, saying "Stop Pushing!" We were treated to a great Nancies and Warehouse followed by a powerful Say Goodbye with beautifully sad violin from Boyd. I remember seeing people being hoisted up in the air and over the front barricade by security guards. I think I even saw my internet buddy get lifted up and over the barricade! (We had managed to split up during the mad rush to the stage when the lights went out.)"
Safety Over the Barricade
"Security was lifting people over the front barricade so they would not get crushed or squeezed, and then letting them walk back around to the rear of the floor section. There was more Davespeak concerning the pushing and shoving. It is definitely on the audience recordings but may not show up on the Official Release. It will be interesting to see. Anyways, Dave said something along the lines of: "Everyone up here needs to chill out with all the pushing and shoving. We have some people up here getting crushed and squeezed. If you want to push and shove take your bad self outside. I'm going to have a peaceful celebration with the people up in the front row and the people up in the stands."(Much applause.)
And then he says something along the lines of "If you want to push someone, we 'got some guys back here you can try and push. Some real BIG boys." (everyone in the crowd imagines big, tattooed roadies and celebrity level bodyguards.) We heard an awesome Rhyme and Reason. I was not a huge fan of this tune until I saw them do it live. Very cool Two Step. The quick paced guitar intro, the outstanding bass work by Fonzy. We then hear Crash, which at the time was getting very heavy radio play. Bela Fleck's banjo and Paul McCandless (alto sax?) sounded great.
I would say as we progressed in to the second half of the concert that the situation with the crowd pretty much resolved itself. It was a combination of people calming down and people leaving the immediate floor area, which gave the remaining people more space. We got a So Much To Say->Anyone Seen the Bridge->Too Much triplet. My favorite part of this was to watch Stefan, at the end of SMTS, stroll over and replace his Warwick Dolphin 4 string (needed for SMTS) with his Warwick 5 String (He uses Modulus 5 string basses now.) while everyone else was jamming. He then kicks in the bass line for Anyone Seen the Bridge.... then a transition to Too Much. I think at this point we had the break for the New Year's countdown. The band then left the stage for a moment."
New Years Countdown
"They used the coliseum scoreboard to do the countdown. Balloons and confetti rained downed on us when the countdown hit zero. Everyone was making a lot of noise. You could barely hear Tripping Billies kick in after the countdown was over. It might have been later, but I think I remember this is the point where Monk Montgomery, Dave's guitar tech, dressed up in white sheets or something as "Baby New Year," was hoisted up with wires and "flown" out over the crowd. No one expected that and it made this particular Dave concert a little bit more unique. Everyone got a big kick out of that.
Before Typical Situation, I want to say Dave says something along the lines of "It's not a typical Situation" (referring to the fact that most or all of the Flecktones are out on the stage.) From there we move to what is listed as the Improv Jam. The jam starts with Boyd and Bela trading slow, simple Dueling Banjos licks... The crowd gets the vibe that we are heading towards something "Ants-like" and really gets excited. The jam extends out to everyone onstage. Eventually we get to Carter and Futureman trading off on the Ants Marching Snare Intro. We hit the full fledged version of Ants Marching with the funk, ascending, descending intro.
From there I cant remember if the band left and came back to do the encore or if they went straight in to Watchtower. For the bass intro I can still remember watching Fonzy gesture over to the mixing console at stage left and pointing upwards as if to let the technician (Jeff Thomas?) know to push more volume in his monitors. At this point the crowd up front had really chilled out and it was really a cool atmosphere. I can remember at the end Dave trying to light a cigar. ( I think he gave up after the lighter he was trying to use just wouldn't work.)
All in all, definitely one of the top 3 DMB concerts I have attended. Partially because I just personally like this period in their touring history, partially because of the acoustics of the venue and partially because it was New Year's Eve. It's a very gray area, and to an extent a matter of opinion, but it was the end of a very successful year that really cemented their popularity."