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An hour into the first official live release from the Dave Matthews Band, it seems like the singer has forgotten the words to his own song. As he plays the roller-coaster guitar figure of “Drive In, Drive Out,” Carter Beauford rolls into its martial beat, punctuating each meter with hi-hat. Matthew, though, sounds lost, mostly slurring syllables until he finds the occasional word or line and reaches the chorus like a life raft. But in all likelihood, Matthews had not yet written the lyrics to “Drive In, Drive Out” when his band drove into Red Rocks Amphitheatre in August 1995. In a matter of week, the group would head to upstate New York to begin recording its landmark <i>Crash</i>. But for now, Matthews and his bandmates were rehearsing their still-in-development tunes for an audience of several thousand. That energy—improvising along the razor’s edge, trying not to fall off—made <i>Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95</i> an instantly canonical live record upon its 1997 release. Since the group’s first show, the Dave Matthews Band had lived, grown, and evolved largely on the road, clocking nearly 750 shows in only four year. Their first studio album, <i>Under the Table and Dreaming</i>, had become a smash, built on songs Matthews and his bandmates had shaped onstage. That was the intention for the second album, too: To take what they’d done, and just get it on tape. You can hear that approach come to life during the Red Rocks show. Matthews and his deeply talented players gallop through “Two Step”—pushing the rhythm as hard as it can go—and unfurl during “Lie in Our Grave,” as LeRoi Moore tests melodic phrases and curves at length. They indulge in the old song, too, sinking into the brooding opener “Seek Up,” and hammering hard at “Ants Marching.” They sound completely energized by the possibility of what’s to come. .

via Apple Music

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