THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512310115
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music review
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
On Saturday night, the first of two nearly sold-out Hampton Coliseum shows by the Dave Matthews Band found the platinum-selling, Charlottesville-based group's sound adapting nearly effortlessly to the larger venue.
In fact, the concert suggested that the Matthews crew's mainstream success is largely due to its adaptation of arena-rock values to its own comfortable-shoe fit.
Several numbers, including the ecstatically received ``Satellite,'' began as quiet, solo acoustic-guitar ballads and ended in elongated codas that surged as much as anything the band did. At times, such moments even fleetingly evoked the more lyrical moments of hard rockers Pearl Jam.
Those comfortable shoes are at the heart of Matthews' music. Even ``Tripping Billies,'' the anti-suicide broadside that opened his set, is warm, even naive in its celebration of ``this happy human race.''
And fittingly for an outfit that found a sizable live audience before even releasing a record, the quartet's in-concert style was no more forceful than its tootling CDs ``Under the Table and Dreaming'' and ``Remember Two Things.''
Although the group is often linked with other Grateful Dead-influenced ``jam bands,'' it rarely approaches the Dead's style.
While both the Dead and the Matthews band have drawn on their own favorites to build a sound, their roots are fairly obviously divergent. Instead of country, bluegrass and blues, Matthews melds Doobie Brothers references, homages to '70s violin star Jean-Luc Ponty, smooth-jazz sax noodlings and singer/songwriter rock into an amiable whole that remains almost weightless.
Indeed, when saxophonist Leroi Moore took an R&B-based baritone solo early in the night, it lent a needed earthy touch to the general light tone.
Matthews also liberally sprinkled the set list with new songs from a third, as yet untitled, album due in April. These seemed to point in the direction of further inroads at both rock and adult-contemporary radio, a sure sign that the native South African hasn't seen the end of his run as a home-grown million-seller.
Despite Matthews' having to ask for less pushing among stage-front fans, this was obviously a happy, low-maintenance celebration for both newcomers to the flock and listeners who have watched him step into the big time over the past few years.
Responses ranged from Deadhead-like dancing to yelping at passages familiar from recordings. Christmas-y lighting effects of red and green on at least one tune subtly acknowledged the season.
In a gracious and welcome gesture, Matthews himself introduced his opening act, funky New York art-rockers Soul Coughing. Their edgier approach was well-accepted by the headliners' fans. by CNB