Concert Commentary: 'A Concert for Virginia Tech' By Laura Massey
Music Editor
September 7, 2007

"A Concert For Virginia Tech" was crowd-pleasing and entertaining, if extraordinarily long.

Phil Vassar opened the show and put forth a solid effort to pump up the crowd. Whether everyone was distracted in their attempts to find seats with friends or if Vassar was just boring, it took Frank Beamer coming onto stage and the words “I feel sorry for LSU” to get a real reaction out of the stands.

Nas received cheers despite the controversy over the content of his lyrics. Some of Nas’s main critics were the victims’ families themselves, but that didn’t stop him from offering them his heartfelt sympathy at the beginning of his set.

In his address to the haters, Nas performed “One Mic.” His original lyrics are of a violent nature, but Nas edited the song so that, in performance, it left out words that might offend. For those who know his music, this was to the detriment of the song. For others, there was so much going on that it was probably hard to catch all the words anyway.

As the sun set on Lane Stadium, the energy rose. John Mayer proved himself a crowd-pleaser. His set consisted of a solid mix of his old music, to which people could sing along, and songs yet to be released.

Mayer’s band is a group of incredibly talented musicians. The instruments became more diverse, and therefore produced a more interesting sound, with the addition of a brass section. We heard each of the band members, including Mayer, display their talent in sometimes astonishing solos. Unfortunately, these solos lasted so incredibly long that one looses interest.

And may I just say that repetition, even transposed repetition, is not that impressive.

The Dave Matthews Band, like Mayer, played a well-chosen set of music from throughout their career. They had everyone on his feet. Well, for the first hour at least.

Matthews further diversified the mix of instruments to include an electric violin and soprano sax, among others. He incorporated a brass section from The Roots to play with him. The trumpet player from The Roots is worth mentioning for his breathtaking ability to make his trumpet scream.

I must admit, I had my doubts that Matthews, who is known for relaxed, low-key music, would be able to keep high energy running through the crowd. He did. It was through his older, better known songs that he kept the energy up. The light show didn’t hurt either.

Mayer joined the Dave Matthews Band onstage for a song, reminiscent of their recent tour together. In the middle was the solo section, in which Mayer, again, was repetitive and musically verbose. But the collective improvisation that joined Mayer from the Band to pull the solo section seamlessly back into the song was impressive enough to make one overlook his misgivings.

Originally found here.