Surreal. To date, this is the best concert I have attended. The intimate location and the music were a perfect combination. My good friend Chris Harlow didn’t make it to buy tickets until late in the day, so our seats were toward the back. It didn’t matter because the seats were still great; there’s not a bad seat in the house.

Hearing familiar songs in a different format is almost always enjoyable for me. Hearing Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds perform these songs is the best example of how great it can be. But it was the new song that really caught my attention — I didn’t learn the name until about a year later. When I head Bartender, I was slightly drop-jawed and gaping. Such a deep and complex song. I was haunted. I later learned that this was arguably the first complete performance of Bartender.

The Wild Horses cover was almost equally striking. Warehouse with the Louie Louie thrown-in was quite the crowd pleaser, but not the only one. The two solo songs by Tim Reynolds were new to me and I couldn’t remember them well enough to tell them apart afterwards. What I did clearly remember was the Tim played an unexpected second solo piece and that they were both inspired.

I really wish that these Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds shows would be resurrected and that ticket sales would be made exclusively to Warehouse members. During this particular performance, there was a huge amount of movement at the front of the theater as people came and left. I wanted to tell them to sit still so I wasn’t distracted; no classical music concert I’ve ever attended had people moving during the performance. A Dave and Tim concert with a “classical music concert level of respect” for the performers is my dream. But being present for perhaps the first performance of Bartender is also a dream and I’m very happy I was able to be present at the Palace Theater for it.

Setlist:

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
February 19, 1999
Palace Theatre, Louisville, KY
Best of What’s Around
Crush
The Stone
Stay
Pay For What You Get
Too Much
Jimi Thing …>
What Will Become of Me …>
Pantala Naga Pampa
Bartender …> *
Don’t Drink the Water
Lie In Our Graves
Chatterbox
Wild Horses
Two Step
Say Goodbye
#41
Warehouse
Hopeful Heresy
Crash Into Me
Dancing Nancies
Encore:
Tripping Billies
All Along The Watchtower
Notes:
* By now, The song is more Bartender than Reconcile. From here out, Bartender is the reference.