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Picture the scene, tens of thousands of screaming Hokies chanting “Let’s Go Hokies” and doing the wave at Lane Stadium before everyone files out just past 11 p.m. Except there was no opponent on the football field today as A Concert For Virginia Tech provided a nearly identical football night game atmosphere Thursday night.
Students starting showing up as early at 10:30 a.m. to possibly get a glimpse of a few of the acts, namely Dave Matthews Band. Will Ritmiller, a freshman engineering major was one of those few and he and his friends got a visit from Dave Matthews as he stopped by on the way to the Stadium to do a sound check and chatted posed for pictures with the group. The lines at the entrances started picking up in earnest about 3:00 p.m. an hour before the gates opened. At 4:00 the people started filling Lane Stadium in four zones. The East and West Side Stands each were seating people from Sections eight and seven on down towards the South End Zone. The entire South End Zone was filled and there was some floor seating on Worsham Field itself. The North End Zone was the location of the stage. Lynchburg native Phil Vassar took the stage at 6:00 p.m. to thunderous applause for a 20 minute set. Vassar even got Head Coach Frank Beamer on stage during the set where Coach Beamer gave Vassar an orange VT hat to wear for the remainder of his set. Vassar was a well-known songwriter in Nashville before finding success as an artist in his own right. He did cause one of the loudest roars of the night when he stated that “I feel sorry for LSU on Saturday.” He closed his set with a song “I’m Alright,” which was a huge hit on the country charts for Jo Dee Messina a few years back and the John Lennon classic, “Imagine.” After a short break to change the stage around, hip-hop artist Nas took the stage with his DJ, DJ Scratch. Nas has taken some heat for being here locally and nationally for playing the show because of the lyrics in some of his raps. Nas opened his set with a couple of tracks off some older CD’s specifically “I Can” and “One Mic.” He turned the stage over to DJ Scratch for a few minutes who amazed the nearly 50,000 concert goers with a scratch routine on his turntables. Nas closed out his set by dedicating his last track to Bill O’Reilly, who led the charge in trying to get Nas taken off the show. The hip-hop legend left the stage to a loud cheer after “Hate Me Now,” a track that takes a sample from classical piece Carmina Burana. John Mayer was next on the stage at about twenty minutes past seven. Mayer was wearing a Hokies United tee shirt for his set which was a big hit with the crowd. Mayer has a lot of teenage female fans because of his looks, but do not let that fool you into thinking he is just another bubblegum pop artist. Mayer is a first class lead guitarist who has fans young and old, male and female. Mayer had a lot of bluesy extended guitar solos in his 45 minute set. He got a chuckle out of the assembled crowd when his song “Vultures” was dedicated to all the countless media organizations that have descended on campus the past five months. He dedicated “Gravity” as a prayer for everyone at Virginia Tech. He also sang his recent smash hit “Waiting On The World To Change.” Mayer thanked the crowd numerous times in his set and also thanked Matthews himself saying that he would not be playing in front of large crowd if it were not for him. As darkness fell over the stadium, Dave Matthews Band took the stage at 8:20 p.m. This is not the first trip to Blacksburg for the Charlottesville native as he played many clubs and bars down here like the South Main Café and others back in the early 1990’s before the band hit it big and sold over 35 million records to date. He also came with acoustic guitarist Tim Reynolds for a pair of acoustic shows in Burruss Auditorium back in the late 1990’s. Matthews and his band, which included a local boy on keyboards in Shawsville’s Butch Taylor, opened to thunderous applause and cheers that would make one wonder if the Hokies didn’t just block a punt. Matthews mixed in a lot of new songs with several of his classics. “Crush,” included lengthy solos by drummer Carter Beauford and bassist Stefan Lessard. About an hour or so into his set the biggest roar of the night came with the opening chords to the band’s smash hit “Crash” hit the speakers. Other classic DMB hits that they played were “So Much To Say,” “Two Step,” and “Too Much,” to name just three. A highlight of the night happened when Matthews invited Mayer back to the stage to join the band for the song “#41.” This is rarely done by Matthews and Mayer and the song was one of the best parts of the concert all night as Matthews and company rocked the house. Mayer had a guitar solo of nearly seven minutes during the 15 minute song that turned into a rip roaring jam session. After the song Mayer laid his guitar on stage and gave Matthews a bow of reverence. The set had crossed the two hour mark by this point. Matthews and company were having a great time jamming and talking with the concert goers. The show ended for the first time at approximately 10:50 but there would be an encore. “Ants Marching,” which has become the encore for DMB and might very well be the most recognized Dave Matthews Band song sent the crowd which was still nearly all there, into a frenzy. Violinist Boyd Tinsley had an absolutely electric solo in the song. The band then continued to jam and play for another 20 minutes until 11:10 p.m. when what posed at the house lights came on from the stage. Lots of students and older adults said after the show that this was the best concert they had ever seen. Some of the funniest comments came from the older crowd as they were impressed by rapper Nas, which you rarely hear from suburban parents in Virginia. The band rolled out of campus on four luxurious tour buses honking their horns while leaning out the windows waving to everyone in attendance. This concert was brought about for the tragedy on April 16th and Matthews said this show was the one on his current tour that he had been looking forward to the most when it was added. The memorial for the shooting victims again was a popular place to visit after the show as lots of alumni and people had not yet visited the site. You had the feeling that there were 32 extra people in attendance as the weather and the concert were absolutely perfect this late summer evening. Please visit our photo gallery on the home page for more pictures of the scene outside Lane Stadium leading up to the concert. Photos by David Grimes.
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