Review: Dave Matthews Band Governors Island Caravan 8/26/11

Honoring the state of emergency put in place by Governor Cuomo, one could say Hurricane Irene put a damper on the Dave Matthews Band Caravan slated to take place for three days on Governors Island in New York City. The weekend was off to a shaky start when organizers announced that Sunday, August 28 would be postponed due to oncoming category one hurricane Irene. A little after the DMB camp made that announcement, NYC mayor Mike Bloomberg announced that all permits would be pulled for outdoor events on Saturday (after 2pm) and Sunday (all day). Unfortunately, it left those originally looking forward to three days of music disappointed and distraught, questioning if they should cancel their plans, or come out for just one day. In honor of the inconvenience, the promoters allowed for anyone with a ticket to any three days to attend Friday.

As I heard the news, I quickly made plans to get to Governor’s Island as soon as possible. To my luck, I found a ride, and ended up on a boat in the middle of the Hudson River. As I exited the boat, I was ecstatic to hear the princes of funk, Soulive, rocking the crowd. On my way to the box office, I heard the band get down to some of their originals and ending with ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ from their Beatles cover album; Rubber Soulive. It’s true what they say, Soulive is one of the funkiest bands on the scene, and tops it off with being tight as possible.

As Soulive was wrapping up their set, I immediately headed to the other stage to hear Citizen Cope. As someone who appreciates Cope’s music, I was happy to catch him live as it’s been on my to do list since I got ‘Let The Drummer Kick’ stuck in my head (for the first of many times). Mr. Cope and his band certainly did not disappoint, and his hip-hop and soul demeanor won over the crowd that had their eyes on the stage.  Towards the latter half of his set, I decided to walk around and check out the attractions, which you can’t do in between acts since there is little time to do so. There were about 12 beer tents, all different breweries spanning from mostly the east coast, an Axe truck (with beautiful girls handing out free cologne), a UFC touring truck, tons of food, and some local activist tables featuring farmers market promoters and other petitioning tables fighting for certain causes.

The next act came as a surprise to me. I had heard O.A.R was typical ‘frat’ music, that wasn’t even worth a listen. I’ve now learned that the saying is true; don’t knock it, until you try it. Of A Revolution was an extremely fun upbeat reggae-ska-rock group with a magnificent horns section, topping it off with great songwriting. It might have been that it was a day set, but, it fit the mood perfectly. The few minute jams made it all worth it, as the style they typically play does not highlight improvisation like O.A.R occasionally did. The crowd was dancing more during this set than they did during any other, and if moving around to some reggae sounds like fun, I’d definitely suggest that you give them a listen.

Following OAR came the main attraction on the large stage. People hurried over to grab a decent spot, and found themselves listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon album. Prior to the Governors Island Caravan, I hadn’t had the chance to see DMB. This is mainly because I took the warning of my Phish friends who explained that the crowd was full of jocks and drunks. While they were right, they were also wrong. Yes, there were obnoxiously loud kids screaming for the band to play a song while they downed their PBR. However, I’ve experienced the same thing at a Phish, Slightly Stoopid, and Girl Talk show, so it’s not just the Matthews crowd. I ceased to see any drama or medical emergencies related to partying in my experience at the Caravan, and that’s a great feat in my book.

Throughout the 21 song set, Dave made note of the hurricane, starting off the banter by saying that we were going to ‘welcome the storm’ and even making reference to an earthquake earlier in the week near his home in Virginia. It’s true that he enjoys interacting and being animated. For example, in the middle of a song you can find him dancing around and scat-singing on the microphone, or in between songs he’ll be talking to the crowd in his thick slurred southern accent. Within the first few songs I was able to tell that Dave was a true performer. The fun really started with the fourth song, ‘Grey Street,’ which was filled with horns and Dave practically screaming the chorus among belting out for a measure.  The integrity for Dave to keep the ball rolling was brilliant and kept you on your feet regardless of the mood of the music.

Many people refer to Dave Matthews Band as the mainstream jam band. I lacked any sense as to why they are refered to as such up until 16 minute ‘Jimi Thing’ rocked the crowd midway through the show. Probably the strongest performer onstage, drummer Carter Beauford with help from bassist Stefan Lessard and long time friend of the band Tim Reynolds (guitar) kept the horn players (Rashawn Ross on trumpet and Jeff Coffin on saxophone) in a funky groove reminiscent of Soulive earlier in the day. Eventually losing some of the crowd’s attention midway through, ‘Lying In The Hands Of God’ felt as if it were a little to dragged out, but ended on a high note with a ravishing saxophone and trumpet solo à la ‘Jimi Thing.’ Dave Matthews anthem ‘Crush’ stretched 15 minutes and was made special on behalf of Boyd Tinsley’s fiddle playing, who would end up harmonizing with Tim, Rashawn and Jeff to build up a crowd pleasing climax.

As most of the set list was Dave’s songs, the covers of the night would end up being most of my cherished moments. ‘Good Times Bad Times’ was pretty spot on. Dave’s singing proved to hold well to Robert Plant’s famous high-pitched voice, while Carter’s rendition of John Bonham’s drumming and Tim Reynold’s Jimmy Paige esq shredding both impressed me. Dave’s famous version of Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower,’ slowly crept up from Dave whispering to an eventual explosion sending all of the Virginia based group into a jam that reminded me of Hendrix’s rendition. It’s intriguing to hear how Dave is able to rearrange the song to make it sound like it’s another part of his repertoire.

The last nod to Hurricane Irene would be the first of three encores; a début cover of Neil Young’s ‘Like A Hurricane,’ that Dave rearranged for a solo acoustic version. Although clearly frustrated about his guitar being out of tune, Dave’s singing was phenomenal and silenced the crowd aside from the singing along from those who knew the song.

Following a solo encore, Tim Reynolds stole the show when the band joined the stage once again and ripped a face melting guitar solo during ‘Time Bomb.’ Finally, the band said goodbye with a 21 minute ‘Two Step,’ featuring jamming on behalf of everyone, including a ripping drum solo from Carter Beauford. A satisfied crowd roared in approval of the night’s performance. Before exiting the stage, Dave left us with the words ‘Get home safe, and get back on the boat.’

Although there are still two more nights of fun to be had, day one of the Governors Island Caravan was overall a success. And after an  impressive day of music, I left satisfied and was trying to figure out how to get back on the boat for the to-be-announced makeup dates.