Bethel Woods May 24 2025 Review and Photos by Ryan O’Malley
For more than three decades, a stop on the Dave Matthews Band’s Summer Tour has been etched in to mostly everyone’s plans at some point or another. The band’s concerts are more of a party vibe known for tailgating and grilling and everyone enjoying all the beautiful weather the tour seems to always bring.
Take Bethel Woods, NY for example, where this past Saturday the temperature at the show’s conclusion was a balmy 42 degrees. But everything before that was what mattered. It was Summer Tour kickoff, after all, and even though most of the band and the crowd were wearing jackets and gloves, all was forgotten with the rare opening placement of “Dancing Nancies.” The song is one of the oldest in the DMB repertoire and was well-received by the near capacity crowd, as was a short but tight “When the World Ends.”
With the show being tour kickoff, there really wasn’t much of an expectation for deep rarities or major surprises, and the band chose to just play songs that helped get all the kinks worked out for the tour and have some fun. Warehouse had everyone singing along with Matthews, whose voice has either not aged at all, or aged absolutely perfectly to continue to fit the music. It’s seriously impressive that at almost 60 years old, Matthews’ voice shows no sign of strain even on songs nearly 30 years old. And his band isn’t too bad, either.
The two-piece brass section of Jeff Coffin on saxophone and Rashawn Ross on trumpet could be low in the background, or up front leading the outfit like a really nice segue from “So Much to Say,” to “Anyone Seen the Bridge,” into a tease opening of “Too Much,” before culminating in a cover of “Word Up!” by Cameo. Feel free to re-read that. They covered Cameo. And Rashawn Ross sang it. And it fucking slammed. By this point it was evident that if opening night was meant to have fun, it was too late to turn back.
Again going back to the 90’s material, DMB kept the energy up with a rousing “Tripping Billies” that had some tight drumming from the beast behind the kit, Carter Beauford. “Looking for a Vein” gave way to another fun cover choice, “It’s Your Thing” by The Isley Brothers. Again opting to not sing, Matthews handed vocal duties to keyboardist Buddy Strong who brought some soul to the evening. With Matthews donning an electric guitar, the band paid homage to late band member LeRoi Moore in the form of “Why I Am,” where they affectionately reference Moore’s nickname of The Grugrux King.
“Typical Situation” was extended almost to the point of being too long, but eventually gave way to “Madman’s Eyes” and a short “Gravedigger.” One of the loudest crowd singlaongs happened with “You and Me,” where Matthews seemed to back off of singing and let the crowd handle it. “Lie in Our Graves” had one of the more awkward moments of the show when the middle section breakdown somehow – and for reasons yet to be known – morphed into “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. It kind of worked, depending on who you talk to.
Wrapping up the main set was a brief bass solo from Stefan Lessard featuring some snippets from “Forty-Six and 2” by Tool before launching into a thumping “Don’t Drink the Water.” If there’s one thing to say about DMB, their dynamic may have changed throughout the years, but the core of the band’s sound has always remained the same.
Lessard and Beauford are the nucleus of that sound and perhaps no song better exemplifies that than “Don’t Drink the Water.” It’s always a blast to hear live and Bethel’s version on Saturday was among the best.
The encore began with Matthews emerging alone for a solo run through a cover of Tex Ritter’s “Rye Whiskey” before welcoming the rest of the band back for an upbeat version of “Grey Street” which featured some fiery guitar fills from Tim Reynolds who is a long-time Matthews collaborator and is approaching 20 years as a full-time member of DMB. It wrapped up a night that was meant to be fun and set everyone off for summer concert season. Was the show a bit of a “sleeper” set list? The argument could be made. Just don’t tell that to anyone who was there, because they’ll tell you the music more than made up for it.
Dancing Nancies
When the World Ends
Warehouse (with "Louie Louie" interpolation)
Walk Around the Moon
You Never Know
So Much to Say (>)
Anyone Seen the Bridge (>)
Word Up! (Cameo cover) (with "Too Much" fake intro; Rashawn Ross on Vocals)
Tripping Billies
Looking for a Vein
It's Your Thing (The Isley Brothers cover) (Buddy Strong on vocals)
Why I Am
Typical Situation
Madman's Eyes
Gravedigger
You & Me
Lie in Our Graves (with "Wonderful Tonight" interpolation)
Don't Drink the Water (with prelude; "Forty Six & 2" interpolation)
Encore:
Rye Whiskey (Tex Ritter cover) (Dave Solo)
Grey Street 
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