Well, after the amazing first DMB show of 2010, we were all pretty hyped up for the second show at PNC Park here in Pittsburgh. Stadium shows are kind of weird – my first Dave show was one, here at Three Rivers Stadium during its last days. The sound is never quite right at stadium shows, because of the reverb off the walls. But a ballpark show, we thought, could be quite different.
For this monumentous show, we decided to spring for the General Admission tickets. If you’ve never been to a Dave show before, typically, you can buy lawn seats (premium dance space, but lots of drunk/high/douchey people, and a distance to the stage), pavilion seats (under the cover, better crowd, less room to shake it), or general admission ‘seats’ (standing right in front of the stage with hundreds of people you’re about to get to know a lot better).
What was also particularly awesome was that because we bought our tickets through Warehouse (the DMB fan club), we got a special ‘early entry’ opportunity. So at 4pm on a hot July Saturday, we lined up outside the gates to PNC Park to stand and wait. At 4:40ish, we were allowed in the doors, so we scrambled down to the front of the stage to claim our space.
And then… we waited. Regular ticket-buyers were able to come in at 5, but the opener wouldn’t even go on until around 7, so basically, we had to stay in one spot and hold down our standing room in the hot sun for about three and a half hours before we even got to see Dave take the stage!
We realized that night that we will likely never do GA tickets for a stadium show again. It’s funny in hindsight, but boy were people rude! Just a little note to anyone considering GA for any show: it’s first-come, first-served. If you show up at 8:05, and the band is going on at 8:30, you cannot push your way to the front and stand in front of everyone who has been standing and suffering and holding down a space since 4. If you do that, you are the type of person who has a special place reserved for them in hell. And guess what? That place is at your favorite band’s concert, but you’re standing behind a 6’7″ guy with a cowboy hat and some girl who is too drunk to do anything but throw up and ask questions to everyone around her the whole show.
So! Now that we’ve covered that!
The show itself was pretty good. Not the level of the Blossom show, but it was an entirely different experience to be so up close to the band, to be actually able to make eye contact with them while they were performing. We got some of the most amazing pictures we’ve ever taken at a concert.
This was the setup of the stage, before the doors were fully open. It got packed!
Standing in the hot sun makes you hungry! Here are the boys with their Primantis sandwiches before the show. Primantis at a Dave show – can it get any better?
Here are Dave and Stefan during one of my absolute favorite songs, “Grey Street.” I can never hear that song enough!
And Dave and Carter. Carter always wears Pittsburgh sports jerseys when they come to Pittsburgh. Both he and Rashawn (the trumpet player) were wearing Pirates jerseys this year.
This is probably my favorite picture of the night: Boyd and Dave tearin’ it up during “#41.” Boyd was definitely playing his best on this tour!
The encore started with “Some Devil,” which is a Dave solo song from his album of the same name. This was the first time I’d heard it live, and aside from the really wasted girls behind us screaming during the line “Too drunk and still drinking,” it was quite awesome.
The night ended with “Two Step,” and then the band said goodnight.
Overall, the show was quite good, but the song variety was not what we were really anxious for. Some of the highlights were “Pig” and “Grey Street” early on, and Dave’s insistence on channeling Prince throughout the course of the night. This show was the first time we heard the “Sexy MF” interpolation on “Jimi Thing,” and we loved it.
But as most Dave shows do, this one left us itching for the next one, which will come in September… WRIGLEY FIELD, HERE WE COME!!