DMB ‘Burns Down The House’ in Berkeley, CA

Show #16:
August 23^rd, 2014
University of California, Berkeley Greek Theatre
Berkeley, CA

Stay or Leave * (includes prelude)
Satellite (off-key intro)
One Sweet World
Sweet
Crash into Me (Dixie Chicken interpolation)
Rhyme & Reason
Recently (Take me to the River interpolation)
Ants Marching (direct intro; Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground) interpolation)
————————-
#41
When the World Ends
Rooftop
Digging a Ditch
Warehouse (Louie Louie interpolation)
If Only
Grey Street
Lover Lay Down (included prelude)
Everyday +
You & Me +
Can’t Stop +
Burning Down the House + (Talking Heads cover)
————————–
The Space Between
Granny
Pantala Naga Pampa –> (Carter solo intro)
Rapunzel
* Dave and Tim
+ The Lovely Ladies
–> indicates segue into next song

It was a beautiful day in the San Francisco bay area and a great night for a DMB concert! I went with my sister Beth (Zenya) for what was her first DMB concert.

The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California is a fantastic place to see a show! I was very impressed with the venue and the scenery of the San Francisco Bay in the background. My only real complaint was the lawn area was a bit steep and kind of uncomfortable due to its hardness of the ground from the lack of rain in California.

DMB Tour 8/23/14 - Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA — DMB Tour 8/23/14 – Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA

In addition, the crowd seemed very mellow as they sat down for most of the show, and there was a constant smell of marijuana being smoked. Other than that, the Greek Theatre at the University of California in Berkeley is a terrific venue for a concert, there isn’t a bad seat in the house!

The acoustic set was good with “Stay or Leave” as the opener featuring just Dave and Tim. In fact, I have heard a different opening song for every DMB show that I’ve been to.

Nice versions of “Satellite”, “One Sweet World” and “Sweet” followed. Once again, I was able to hear “Crash into Me”, this time in the acoustic set, and it still sounded pleasant after all these years.

One of the highlights of the night for me was an awesome bluesy acoustic version of “Rhyme & Reason”. Tim Reynolds did an amazing guitar solo that just blew me away and one of the best songs of the night! It was great to hear that song performed live again! I haven’t seen DMB play that song since 2003!

“Recently” sounded decent, though not my favorite, and once again, another fine performance of “Ants Marching” concluded the acoustic set on this Saturday night in Berkeley, California.

The electric set kicked off with “#41”, one of my favorite DMB songs. However, it seemed like it was cut short a little bit and really didn’t feature any horns which was disappointing.

“When the World Ends” followed and it sounded excellent! It’s been awhile since I’ve experienced that song live and it was terrific! Another highlight of the night for me was an awesome version of “Rooftop”! It really rocked the Greek Theatre! “Digging a Ditch” sounded beautiful tonight as well.

“Warehouse” was also a pleasant surprise by itself which sounded more like the studio version with the intro but would end with an awesome jam and a “Louie, Louie” interpolation which was a lot of fun!

After a nice version of “If Only”, DMB played a magnificent rendition of “Grey Street” with an outstanding jam at the end featuring both Rashawn Ross on trumpet and Jeff Coffin on sax. They both really shined on that song and it really rocked!

“Lover Lay Down” sounded beautiful and mellow, and like “Rhyme and Reason” it is a song I haven’t heard live in a while and was nice to hear again on this night in Berkeley, California.

Unexpectedly, “Everyday” followed and out came the Lovely Ladies! I haven’t seen DMB perform with them since 2001. Boyd Tinsley shined on this song, as did the Lovely Ladies on backing vocals! The song was a lot of fun for this nice night in Berkeley, CA.

The Lovely Ladies stayed on stage and provided background vocals for “You & Me”, and an absolute awesome bluesy version of “Can’t Stop”, which might have been my favorite song of the night, and it was actually the first time I experienced that song for the first time. The set ended finally with the Talking Heads cover “Burning Down The House”, which sounded great and rocked the house!

The encore started off with a real nice version of “The Space Between”, followed by a decent rendition of “Granny” and then ultimately ending with “Rapunzel” which I haven’t experienced since the 2000 tour. It was a good, but not a great encore, in my opinion.

My sister and I had a good time at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California for her first DMB show and my first DMB experience on the west coast. Although this was not my favorite show or set list, it was nice to hear some songs I haven’t seen DMB perform live in a long time such as “Rhyme & Reason”, “When The World Ends”, “Digging a Ditch”, Lover Lay Down”, “Can’t Stop”, “The Space Between”, and “Rapunzel”. However, I found this show a little disappointing compared to the June 14^th show in Camden, New Jersey earlier this summer.