I must confess.

I was never a huge fan of Dave Matthews Band.

Don’t get me wrong — I have always held them in high regard due to their musicianship and songwriting ability, along with Dave’s clever lyrical play. But there was just something starkly missing from their efforts that never reached inside of me and danced with my soul (forgive the cliché). That could have more to do with my own reservations and misconceptions of DMB being nothing more than a jam-band, but nonetheless…

Last night, though, a couple things changed for me.

I never questioned the band’s ability to pull off a staggering musical presentation. Little doubt was left after hearing and seeing recordings of live concerts and bearing second-hand witness to their immaculate conveyance of songs I had heard time and time again on the airwaves.

Dave Matthews Band is awesome, okay?! I know this!

Wednesday night at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, though, proved to me beyond any suspicion that DMB is one of the finest groupings of musicians the world has to offer. Whatever qualms I had left about the band was cast aside violently during the first two minutes of the evening, with their first offering, “Seek Up,” beginning beautifully slow, then rising to an emotional crescendo that was brought to a close so sudden and perfect that you almost had to be reminded to breathe once the audience started roaring.

After that song…after that one song — the duration of which lasted no more than ten minutes — I was born anew as a fan of this incredible line-up of musicians. As the night continued and the band ebbed and flowed between extended all-out jams and to-the-point renditions of their more familiar tunes, my status as a fan grew and grew.

Admittedly, that night, the mood was a bit emotive, if not, at times, somber. Anyone who follows the band closely knows that founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore passed away Tuesday from complications resulting after an ATV accident on June 30^th of this year. Matthews and band were obviously emotional during their performance, seeming at times to be just on the verge of tears. Though, in true Dave Matthews’ fashion, the positive atmosphere was never far behind, as the band turned what could have been a two-and-a half-hour requiem into a celebration of the life of their close friend and bandmate. Between songs, Matthews would sometimes regale the audience with stories of Moore’s kindness and strange sense of humor, and notably his penchant for giving strange gifts.

Prior to the show, I couldn’t help but muse about the position their new woodwind player had found himself in. Over the past three months, Jeff Coffin of Flecktones fame had been filling what, at the time, had been thought of as a temporary vacancy, which changed suddenly on Tuesday night with passing of LeRoi Moore. I pictured, in my mind, a still, virtually unmoving character secluding himself to one far side of the stage or another, not wanting to make himself too noticeable in quiet respect for the man he was currently replacing.

My, my…how wrong I was.

Coffin is a dynamo. Not only did he make himself heard and noticed, he was the most animated player on that stage. He became a leading force during the night, lending himself as head of a celebration in the name of his fallen predecessor. A bic-bald, long-goateed, bespectacled beatnik, Coffin strut his stuff with the confidence of a champion gladiator, wielding his saxophone with seemingly limitless ease while parrying with the original band members, sometimes in a comedic fashion.

Memory recalls an instance during a sax and drum battle which, while laughing hysterically, nearly resulted in percussionist Carter Beauford throwing his sticks up in defeat due to Coffin’s antics during the exchange.

Even toward the end of the set, Dave Matthews Band maintained their positive energy, bringing the night to a close with two encores consisting of “Sledgehammer” and “Stay (Wasting Time)”. It was evident, throughout the course of the evening, that this was a family of musicians dedicated to spreading an uplifting message through the power of music. Matthews himself admitted on stage that night that he sings much about death, but though death follows us closely through life, it is our duty to seize the day and stave off the fear that can so easily rule us if we are not careful.

This night was a prime example of this message, and though the specter of mortality hung thick in the air, it was without doubt rendered impotent by the raw positivity emanated by this band of brothers celebrating the life of their fallen comrade.

Set List:

“Seek Up”
“Warehouse”
“Gravedigger”
“Rhyme and Reason”
“Crush”
“Old Dirt Hill”
“#41″
“You Might Die Trying”
“Where Are You Going”
“Pantala Naga Pampa”
“Rapunzel”
“Out Of My Hands”
“Jimi Thing”
“So Much To Say”
“Anyone Seen The Bridge”
“Too Much”
“Louisiana Bayou”

Encore:
“Sledgehammer”
“Stay (Wasting Time)”

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