Montage Moutain~ The NEW Sweetest Place On Earth

SO~Dave Day 6/22/05 @ Montage Mtn proved to be everything I had expected AND more! The ride up and traffic were less the media infalted nightmare, and more the normal concert traffic to be expected. The tail gating was left me pleasantly surprised. The lot we were directed to was a dirt lot a small hike up-hill from the actual venue. We quickly found a spot, opened a few beers and relaxed a bit. The only "real" problem we had was the slight overheating of the car.. mostly due to Andy driving up and back and up and back (since he works 10 minutes from the venue.. and we live 30 minutes southward) BUT I digress.. I was not going to let a little steam rising from the engine of my car that is also needed to drive us all the way back home, ruin my DD!!

AND IT DIDN'T!!

THE SHOW... we tried to get with my sister and friends before the show, but they had headed up a few hours before us so I had already figured that we would not. So we headed into the show about 7:30ish.. caught a little of Howie Day (not actually SEEING him, but you could hear him out in the vendor area)and he sounded pretty good.. I give him 2 thumbs up.(because MY opinion matters soo much!!) then we met up with my Stephie (my sister)& Larry(bro-in-law) Marleen & Todd (friends of ours).. but missed Eric and Sara and Tina (other friends... btw.. these are my normal Dave ay friends, and you really can't get better friends than them. They are all huge DMB fans and just overall good times:) We all chatted (us girls were more in 13-year-old-shreak-mode, but consider the circumstances!) Quickly we realized that Marleen and Todd & us (proper English,whaaa??) had same rows/different section tickets... so it was obvious that we would all just sit together. We made our way to our seats (not bad by any stretch of the imigaination) and made freindly w/ the kids next to us. The fun times were about to begin.

The opener: DREAMGIRL.. a new little dity off of Stand UP-- nice, sweet& lovely... in all a song sung so beautifuly by Dave you can not help but get wrapped up in it (and nod off in "If I was Daves Dreamgirl Land" .. SNAP OUT OF IT ,KATHY!) ... next OneSweetWorld(an oldie, but goodie!)~Don'tDrinkTheWater (sooo much into this song, you can see Daves frustration and emotion.. great, great song!)THEN... MY NANCIES~~~ Oh how I love this song, great dance and let-go song.. I feel especially close due to my OBSESSION with www.nancies.org {sorry... another rant!}...THEN THEN THE>>>>CRASH..OMG-UN-FREAKIN-BELIEAVABLE.... first time live for me, and even those Non-DMBers can appreciate these beauty of a song, just beyond words!

Onto a few newbies- HungerForTheGreatLight -- ehhhh, not totally amazed by it, but coming off of Nancies~Crash.. not much could hold a candle to it(EXCEPT Say GOODBYE.. but that is another beast of its own that I don't dare get into).. YouMightDieTrying.... liked it, has great potential..... Everyday/#36.. the interation of these songs is AMAZING.. the band feeds off of the crowd, (which I failed to mention was just beyond intense, I mean.. INSANE.. EVERYONE was on there feet, jamming and dancing and singing. )then BestOFWhatsAround.... last years Hartford opener.. very fun, good ol song. Warehouse... the Whoo's make my hair stand on end, and chills up my spine!!

Stolen Away on 55th&3rd... nice new song, sweet and simple. Dave sat and took a load off.. nice to see!.... JimiThing.. one of my most favs, heard it almost every show I have seen live and yet it is such a crowd pleaser.StandUp--- a funky Get-on-your-feet-and-dance song (although, the desperate attempts for this band to get people on there feet is far from needed!) Louisaiana Bayou-- LOVE IT.. funky and fun and very old school DMB, and just when you thought those 2 jams would end the set they bust out the opening chords to TOO MUCH and I about lost it.. (The ability of the band to pull off several jams like this is part of why I love them so!)

The Encore~~ The much anticipated American Baby started the encore, cute song radio style/ better song live. Scats and Jams added to the tail = fun times!! And the perfect end to the evening Two Step~~ FUN FUN FUN, always a great way to funnel the shows energy into one great climatic end!! It left me yearning for more.

All in all the night was perfect. The energy was tremendous. Andy enjoyed his first show and I would bet the band has already penciled in Montage for next years schedule.


Saturday was Hershey~ the ride down and tailgaiting were fun, the show was sub-par at best. The best part was my Andrew expereinced his first DMB show and first real concert ever. It was great to see the wide eyedness that a show like this brings to a child. I know I was in my teens when I went to my first concert, so he owes me BIG!!!!