Thousands of fans swarmed down Frances Street and into the Kohl Center Tuesday night with no idea what they were getting themselves into.
Most knew they were going to see My Morning Jacket, Jurassic 5, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, and the Dave Matthews Band perform at the University of Wisconsin’s arena. Many knew the concert was part of the Vote for Change tour. Some knew the tour was sponsored by Moveon.org, which supports progressive politicians.
But what would happen once tickets were taken was anybody’s guess. Would the artists spout harsh partisan rhetoric after every song? Would the audience become a frenzied mob? Would security guards spend more time taking one-hitters from high schoolers or breaking up Bush-Kerry fistfights?
What do we know about politics in music? We’re just kids — that’s the stuff of our parents’ generation.
The evening began with My Morning Jacket’s longhaired head-banging antics to a nearly empty venue. As attendees filtered in, J5 took the stage unleashing hip-hop in its finest sense with favorites such as “Freedom” and “What’s Golden.” The animated crew fed one another’s energy levels, enticing the crowd through interaction and its classic underground beats. J5 set the atmosphere for the night, snatching the crowd’s attention and bringing them to their feet during its intense 30-minute set. The group, without fail, set the high-energy tone for the evening.
For the last 10 years, Ben Harper has been one of the only voices music lovers could point to when their parents talked about the lack of social advocacy in today’s music.
Harper and the Innocent Criminals opened with “People Lead” and “Excuse Me Mister,” two of Harper’s most passionate cultural criticisms. Harper’s lyrics “Excuse me mister/ can’t you see the children dying/ you can that you can’t help them/ mister, you’re not even trying,” were infused with a reggae beat instead of slide guitar, bringing to mind the power of social revolutionary Bob Marley.
Leon Mobley left his percussion kit to play bongos alongside Harper during “Steal My Kisses.” Harper brought rebellious life to his radio by running back to the setup to duel with drummer Oliver Charles, then hurdling Mobley.
As energetic performers with an endless bag of tricks, Harper broke out his signature slide guitar and Mobley beat boxed and banged on everything in sight to ignite their music.
Harper closed his set with “With My Own Two Hands” into “War.” It was once again difficult to ignore the poignancy of lyrics like “I can change the world/ with my own two hands.”
Dave Matthews Band received the warmest reception from a crowd containing obvious fans, from prep-school hippies to college kids who know they’d be cooler if they were listening to Radiohead, to both of the aforementioned parents.
The greatest strength of the Dave Matthews Band is that its trademark sound, which straddles a line between orchestral rock and world beat, combined with simple, poetic lyrics allows listeners’ minds to wander through the music.
Like picking shapes out of clouds, listeners can create their own interpretation of every lick and lyric, or gaze at the energized crowd as if they were drunk and in Section N on game day.
As with Harper, Matthews’ lyrics could sporadically call to mind the political cause behind the entire night and social unrest throughout the country.
Opening with “The Stone,” Matthews sang “I’ve got this creeping/ suspicion that things are not as they seem.” The band followed shortly with “Rhyme & Reason,” a seething song about coping with fear and confusion in the world.
At an early high point, the band was able to flex its chops on an extended “Seek Up.” The song’s main riffs hang somewhere between ominous and soothing, and that feeling is reinforced by Matthews singing the unnerving hook “You seek up a big monster/ for him to fight your wars for you” in a soft bedtime story voice.
Drummer Carter Beauford proved once again why he is the soul of Dave Matthews Band’s success during an inconceivably intricate drum solo. Beauford twisted time and hit every bell-and-whistle on his massive kit to leave the audience dumbstruck.
Mobley and Harper returned to join the band on the set-closing cover of a cover “All Along the Watchtower.” Since its inception, Matthews Band has covered this song by relying on quiet chords and loud band hits followed by wailing voices and violins.
But the addition of Harper on a distorted slide guitar added the burning energy and searing sound of Jimi Hendrix’s infamous rendition.
The band let the crowd sit in the dark and stew in their own energy after the incendiary closing number before coming out for an encore. The Kohl Center sat silent as the band tinkered with sounds and lines from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” before launching into the trance-like dirge “Don’t Drink the Water.”
