The Central Park Concert

Dave Matthews Band | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 18, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2000
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B0000UJLMS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (109 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,583 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #26 in Music > Rock > Jam Bands > Rock Jam Bands
  • #61 in Music > Box Sets

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Live DMB Release, January 25, 2005

By 

kyle (montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Central Park Concert (Audio CD)

As someone who has about 25 live dmb show's I must say that this is definitely a great one.

Starting the concert off with a powerful "Don't Drink The Water" the band continued that energy through the whole show.

Some of the highlight's include:

The first major live release of crush.

A great version of an unreleased song "Granny"

The one-two punch of Dancing Nancies-->Warehouse (listen for the salsa outro on warehouse and the bartender intro to nancies)

An excellent Two Step with butch taylor teasing a famous new york tune.

One of the fastest most energetic ants marching performance's I've seen the band give the song...without the long intro though.

The somewhat rare Help Myself...a good performance of the song.

Cortez The Killer with Warren Hayes.. nice.

Jimi Thing with warren hayes... One of my favorite performances of any song by any band ever. Wow. Listen for dave's scatting and the tease of buffalo springfield's "For What It's Worth". Get this album for this song...trust me.

Watchtower...a raging performance of this song. Not quite up with hendrix yet but dmb are coming close as the year's go by.

Finally the show closes with a great performance of the song "Stay"...not the best song to close with but it fit's nicely here.

Check this release out if you're just looking for great music.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best live DMB release, December 7, 2003

By 

Patrick Crutchley (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Central Park Concert (Audio CD)

I own both the CD and DVD -- bought the DVD first, and decided that I simply had to have the album as well. I'm ecstatic that "Cortez" finally made an official release. Fantastic cover.

I write this review, however, to say that a previous reviewer has no idea what he is talking about. He cites two specific examples -- Boyd's "Nancies" solo and Roi's "Warehouse" -- as problems with the concert. He calls the former "out of tune." I speak as a musician when I say that there is a large difference between "out of tune" (which he wasn't) and "dissonant" or "polytonal" (which he was, at times). Being out of tune is not good, i agree, but dissonance and polytonality is what makes a lot of DMB's music great. This solo was an example of that.

Now, as for Roi's "Warehouse" solo. I speak as a sax player of some ten years when I say that this solo was brilliant. Believe it or not, not every sax player wants to sound candy-coated like Kenny G. It's called "color" and "character." I can guarantee you that almost every thing Roi did in his solo, he did on purpose. Someone with his skill doesn't do those things accidentally. Those altissimo notes are hard to play that beautifully, but he pulls it off masterfully. And sampling "Everyday People" ("And so on, and so on, and shoobee doobie doobie")? Brilliant.

Another previous reviewer wrote about the "Hey!" during the "Warehouse" opening "stop-and-go" break. If you'd watch the DVD, you'd see that Stefan throws his fist into the air on every "HEY!" They love it. It's called interaction.

(Although, if you want to talk about annoying, how about the crowd speeding up clapping during the opening of "Two Step," then getting off from Boyd when he brought it back down to tempo? Ick. That was the only annoying part of the whole concert.)

4.95 stars => rounds to 5 ;-)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DMB Finds New Life, November 19, 2003

By 

secoulte (Lake Tahoe, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Central Park Concert (Audio CD)

Their freshest sounding live release since "Listener Supported" puts DMB right back on top of the heap.. After the disaster that was "Everyday" it is good to see the band back in good form for this one-off concert in support of New York City Public Schools and other charities. Off the heels of Dave Matthews' solo release "Some Devil" many fans were concerned with the direction of the band. But this concert, which was performed the day after that release in September 2003, served to put those short-lived fears to bed. I would venture to say that this live release nearly matches the energy and quality of DMB's vaunted first live release "Red Rocks". This set features a wonderful 5.1 stereo mix and lush audio quality as compared to the two previous live releases - "Folsom Field" & "Chicago".

The highlights include: a rousing reading of Neil Young's "Cortez The Killer" featuring a blistering performance from Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes, delightfully teasing versions of "Dancing Nancies" & "Warehouse" that build to awesome crescendos, a 19 minute version of "Two Step" that blows the doors off any other version previously recorded, and a freewheeling performance of "Jimi Thing" with the aforementioned Haynes that includes an interpolation of Buffalo Springfield's "For What Its Worth".

The definite lowlight is yet another inclusion of "All Along The Watchtower" in a DMB live release. Ugh! Please make it stop! Haven't we heard this song enough?

This excellent recording shows what DMB can be capable of when they are on and when they devote the proper technology to capturing their sound, which only wets the appetite for the upcoming much anticipated 6 disc release of the 2002 Gorge shows, set to come out in early 2004. The price of this set along with its excellent sound quality and performances of classic as well as newer material should appeal to devoted DMB fanatics and casual listeners as well.