Less than a month after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Dave Matthews Band returned to Ohio on Saturday to deliver a nearly three-hour set of music to fans at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena for the second night of the group’s brief fall tour. The stop at Nationwide Arena came as the second show on DMB’s fall tour schedule following Friday’s opening night in Pittsburgh.
Joining Matthews on stage for the tour are original band members Carter Beauford (drums) and Stefan Lessard (bass), longtime time collaborator Tim Reynolds (guitar), DMB mainstays Rashawn Ross (trumpet) and Jeff Coffin (saxophone), and keyboardist Buddy Strong, the outfit’s newest member, who joined up in 2018.
Matthews greeted the Columbus crowd with sage wisdom, stating that even though the world seems to be in a strange place, a crowd of people can still come together to listen to some music. Saturday’s varied setlist spanned the band’s extensive discography including longtime favorites like “Ants Marching”, “Grace is Gone”, and “Don’t Drink The Water” as well as the title track from DMB’s 10th and latest studio album, 2023’s Walk Around The Moon.
Matthews and the band have come a long way over three decades of mixing rock, jazz, folk, funk, and world music into highly accessible improvisational live jams. Staples from the band’s breakout 1994 release, Under the Table and Dreaming, remain in rotation in live setlists today, as do notable tracks from Crash, Before These Crowded Streets, Busted Stuff, Come Tomorrow, and more. Fans in Columbus were also treated to several covers including Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker”, Led Zeppelin’s “Fool In The Rain”, and Commodores’ “Brick House” as well as an encore-closing “All Along The Watchtower”, a song written by Bob Dylan and popularized by Jimi Hendrix that has remained a setlist staple for DMB for decades.
This writer has fond memories of experiencing the band’s music for the first time when DMB was the supporting act for the Grateful Dead at the now-closed Sam Boyd Silverbowl in Las Vegas in the Spring of 1995. Hearing “Typical Situation” and “Jimi Thing” again on Saturday was just as sweet now as it was standing in the heat of the Las Vegas sun nearly 30 years ago.
The Columbus crowd came from across the Midwest and beyond. Some in attendance were seeing DMB for the first time, while several had seen the band 30 or more times—which should come as no surprise to die-hard fans and Warehouse fan club members.
When asked what the Dave Matthews Band means to them, one fan stated, “It was the first time I realized music could be more than background and could be the thing itself.” Such a sentiment likely hits home for the many fans who have made the band’s music the soundtrack to their lives.
Earlier this fall, Matthews showed sincere appreciation for DMB’s fans in his nearly 7-minute speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This, the group’s second official nomination for the Hall of Fame, saw them winning both the fan vote and (finally) an official induction to the Rock Hall to join a long legacy of bands and artists who have been bestowed with this honor. In return on Saturday, the nearly 18,000+ crowd expressed its continued appreciation for the band with loud accolades throughout the 21-song performance.
Dave Matthews Band will now have a few days off before heading Uncasville, CT for two shows at Mohegan Sun Arena, followed by 3 sold-out dates at Madison Square Garden—including the all-star Soulshine hurricane relief benefit on November 24th—to round out the tour. In early 2025, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds will get back in action for their annual Riviera Maya, Mexico destination event on January 23, 24, and 25, 2025.
Below, view the setlist, a selection of fan-shot videos via YouTube user doink317, and a gallery of photos from the Saturday night Dave Matthews Band show in Columbus, OH via Lindsey McCutchan. Find tickets to upcoming shows on the Dave Matthews Band fall 2024 tour here.
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Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | Nationwide Arena | Columbus, OH | 11/16/24
Set: Ants Marching, The Maker [1], Idea of You, Walk Around the Moon, Funny the Way It Is, Looking For a Vein, Busted Stuff, Fool in the Rain [2], Grace Is Gone, So Damn Lucky > Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), Stolen Away on 55th & 3rd, Stay or Leave, Typical Situation, Don’t Drink the Water, I’ll Back You Up, Old Dirt Hill (Bring That Beat Back), Jimi Thing > Brick House (Commodores)
Encore: Oh [4], All Along the Watchtower [5]
[1] Daniel Lanois cover
[2] Led Zeppelin cover
[3] Sly & the Family Stone cover
[4] Dave Matthews solo
[5] Bob Dylan cover
Dave Matthews Band – “Busted Stuff” – 11/15/24
Dave Matthews Band – “Fool in the Rain” (Led Zeppelin) – 11/16/24
Dave Matthews Band – “I’ll Back You Up” – 11/16/24
