Dave Matthews Band turned in another memorable Labor Day weekend run at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The band’s annual three-night stand was filled with plenty of fanfare worthy of the end-of-summer run including sit-ins from Celisse and Eric Krasno as well as a drone light show presented alongside a song that hadn’t been performed in four years.
Saturday’s show opened with sets from both Celisse’s solo band and Eric Krasno & The Assembly. The respective guitarists stuck around for the headlining set, with Krasno emerging first to join DMB on “Break Free” midway through the main performance. After Krasno departed, the band ran through “So Damn Lucky” and “Everyday” before bringing Celisse out for a take on Bob Dylan‘s “All Along The Watchtower”, with the guest guitarist giving the song plenty of the Jimi Hendrix flair.
The Saturday show pales in comparison to DMB’s guest-filled Gorge run last year when drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard were sidelined due to COVID. In light of the missing players, the weekend took on a Dave & Friends format as the group made the “Best of What’s Around” by recruiting openers Robert Randolph, Dumpstaphunk, and Mavis Staples to join the headlining performances.
Related: Dave Matthews Band Welcomes Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi In Jacksonville [Videos]
While Sunday’s run-closing concert didn’t offer any special guests, Dave Matthews Band lit up the night sky with a choreographed drone light show. The aerial illusions arrived while on the ground below DMB busted out “#34” as the start of a three-song encore that included “So Right” and “What You Are”. The instrumental from the band’s 1994 album Under The Table And Dreaming had not been played live since September 7th, 2018 per DMB Almanac, which would have marked late saxophonist LeRoi Moore’s 57th birthday.
Check out fan-shot videos of Celisse and Eric Krasno sitting in with Dave Matthews Band at The Gorge, as well as the drone show and “#34” bust-out. The group’s tour continues through the end of September, with a two-night run on the 9th and 10th at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in Greenwood Village, CO up next.
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Dave Matthews Band, Celisse – “All Along The Watchtower” (Bob Dylan) – 9/3/22
[Video: Aaron Coleman]
Dave Matthews Band – “#34”, “So Right” – 9/4/22 [Pro-Shot]
Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 9/2/22
Set: Fool In The Rain, Warehouse, The Maker, That Girl Is You, When The World Ends, What Would You Say, The Riff , Madman’s Eyes, Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin), Don’t Drink the Water, Drunken Soldier, Seek Up, Eh Hee, Kill The Preacher, Why I Am, Lying In the Hands of God, Crush, Grey Street
Encore: Virginia In The Rain *, Louisiana Bayou
* Dave Solo
Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 9/3/22
Set: One Sweet World, You Never Know, Fool to Think, Can’t Stop, Joyride, Stay or Leave, #41, If Only, So Much to Say » Anyone Seen the Bridge » Too Much, The Dreaming Tree, Sledgehammer, Squirm, Break Free*, So Damn Lucky, Everyday, All Along the Watchtower**, Two Step
Encore: Oh, Stay (Wasting Time)
* w/ Eric Krasno
** w/ Celisse
Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 9/4/22
Set: Proudest Monkey » Satellite, Pantala Naga Pampa » Rapunzel, Do You Remember, You Might Die Trying, Walk Around the Moon, It’s Your Thing, Lie in Our Graves, Again and Again, Funny the Way It Is, Lover Lay Down, Jimi Thing, Corn Bread, Steady As We Go, Typical Situation, Drive In Drive Out, Dancing Nancies, Ants Marching
Encore: #34, So Right, What You Are