Dave. Is. A. Genius.

It doesn't matter anymore that they didn't show up for Bluesfest. Nor do I care about the tour getting postponed. Dave Matthews Band more than made up for it last night.

There were about 14 of us in the group and we started queueing at around 3. We were next to the guys who were first in line but after an hour or so, we were asked to move to another queue because we had to get our bags checked before entering Hordern. As expected, there was a lot of chatting (and just as much camwhoring) as we waited to be let into the venue. We didn't end up at the very front as planned because after cloaking in, security held us up and let all the other queues go in first. Talk about unfair. It made me wish I was a Warehouse member even more. Oh well... it wasn't worth the fuss because we were to learn later on that the guys will pull off an amazing show that will leave some of us elated and even crazier about their music than we already are.

They played the following songs off my made-up setlist. No Rapunzel to kick things off. No #41, Grey Street or Bartender either. But it's my first DMB show and I'm hoping to see them again and again (and again and again...). They did play Sister which I really wanted to hear. The melancholy of it always makes me a tad teary-eyed and seeing Dave play it last night was just how I imagined it would be - a man singing words from his heart as if there was no one else in the room but him and his guitar. I hope he heard me say thank you because I meant it.

Rapunzel
The StoneBest of What's Around
#41
Crash Into Me
The Idea of You
Dancing Nancies
Warehouse
Jimi Thing
Tripping Billies
Grey Street
Lover Lay Down
Break Free
Where are You Going
Crush
Satellite
Two Step
Too Much
Ants Marching

Sister
Bartender
Stay

From memory, they also played Dreamgirl, Too Much, So Much to Say, Louisiana Bayou, Don't Drink the Water, Down By the River,The Maker and Gravedigger. I missed a few songs that I didn't know and I can't remember the order that they were played but Ala was very good at keeping up with the setlist. :)

Thank you Csab, Len, Pat, Andee, Lars, Ala, Mio, Gutsy, Erwin, Sacha, Lucy, Tel and Fiona. It was awesome sharing this experience with you.

And thank you Dave. You are nothing short of greatness. Please come back soon.

I've had good concert karma in the last twelve months. Apart from my Latin American favourites, I had seen about 80% of my "must see live" list in that period of time alone: Jason Mraz, Sting, U2, John Butler Trio, Paolo Nutini, Jack Johnson, Gomez, Ozomatli and John Mayer. I'm sure the "must see live" list will keep on growing but that just means that heaps of new music and creative people are still waiting to be discovered. And I'm grateful for that. Music, after all, is my drug.

In two weeks time, I'll be seeing the jam of all jams for the first time. They came to Australia in 2005 but I had to miss them cos of a family emergency. They're finally doing another Australian Tour and rumour has it that they'll make up for their non-appearance at Bluesfest by returning to Byron Bay next year. Two years in a row isn't bad at all, Dave.

Now let's play a game and make up a set list:

Rapunzel
The Stone
Best of What's Around
#41
Crash Into Me
The Idea of You
Dancing Nancies
Warehouse
Jimi Thing
Tripping Billies
Grey Street
Lover Lay Down
Break Free
Where are You Going
Crush
Satellite
Two Step
Too Much
Ants Marching
Sister
Bartender
Stay

Dave will probably have to sing all night had I kept my first attempt at creating a setlist. ;)