Dave Matthews Band returned to Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for the first time in three years last night and, while in Music City, welcomed a mix of local friends. Partway through the show, singer/guitarist Stephen Wilson Jr., who opened for Dave Matthews Band at George, WA’s Gorge Amphitheatre over Labor Day, emerged for “Time Bomb,” the same Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King cut he sat in on a few months ago. Soon after, Americana icon Emmylou Harris and fiddler Jake Renick Simpson took the stage in tandem to help Dave Matthews Band through Bob Dylan’s 1976 classic “Oh Sister.” It was the first time the number has been played as a full DMB show since a June 3, 2015 stop in Tuscaloosa, AL, though the band’s namesake has continued to perform it in a variety of other contexts. Harris, one of Matthews’ longtime heroes, has shared the stage the group and its members numerous times, often on “Oh Sister.” She also opened the 2003-2004 Dave Matthews & Friends tour and taped an episode of CMT Crossroads with Matthews that was tied to his solo project.
Simpson remained on stage for the balance of the set, which included “Warehouse,” a segue from “Big Eyed Fish” into “Bartender,” a run from “So Much to Say” into “Anyone Seen the Bridge” and “Too Much,” “Crush” and the first-ever set-closing “Pig.” He then returned to help Matthews through the new original “Papertown” during his nightly solo encore spot and “Tripping Billies” at the end of the evening. Trombonist Roy Agee, known for his work with Prince, Eric Church and Lambchop, among others, also appeared with DMB for the first time on “Crush.”
The evening contained some other surprises as well. At the beginning of the night, Dave Matthews Band settled into their show with “Grux,” the Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King invocation they debuted at the Gorge in September when they performed that 2009 album in its entirety. DMB’s fall tour continues at Chicago’s Untied Center this evening.
