Dave Matthews, Allman Bros. rock out Piedmont Park

On September 8th, the Atlanta streets flooded as a coiling, endless sea of patrons poured in from all directions to form a pseudo pilgrimage army that was 50,000 strong.

No shoes. No shirt. No problem. Dave and The Allman Brothers had come to town.

Complete with bright summer sundresses, beads and tie-died t-shirts, concert goers were in true Dave style. Blankets were spread across the entire lawn of Piedmont Park, resembling a patched quilt of colors.

The crowd ranged from sixty year old, groovin' hippies to boys not older than eight, dancing with mothers and waving multi colored bandanas. The mood was set, the weather was nice and the crowd was buzzing in anticipation for one of the best concerts of the year.

The Allman Brothers Band, which co-headlined with Dave Matthews Band, kicked off the concert at roughly 5:30 p.m. Warren Haynes on lead guitar and the legendary Hall of Famer Gregg Allman on keyboard and lead vocals went through both classic hits by the Allman Brothers as well as some eclectic favorites.

In nostalgic vintage form, the band opened with "Trouble No More," which made the crowd erupt into cheers of excitement; it'd been a while since the Allman's were in Piedmont Park. The first time that these tunes echoed across the meadows of Piedmont was in 1969 when Duane Allman, God's other gift to southern rock and Gregg's brother, was still alive and jiving.

With stirring renditions of such incredible hits as "Midnight Rider" and "Statesboro Blues" played back to back, the fans cheered in mutual gratitude as beach balls were sent soaring into the air. Everyone was rocking out as whoops and hollers accompanied by fist pumps and singing filled the open area.

Warren Haynes' guitar work ranged from his slide guitar on "Come and Go Blues" to his profound, prophet-like performance on "Terrapin Station Jam" which was, in a word, incendiary.

The Allman Brothers had two drum sets played by the incredibly talented Butch Trucks and Jaimoe, and a Bahaman style bongo set was played by Marc Quinones. It seemed that the fifty by forty foot stage was too small to contain the music as the percussion solos shook the already jamming crowd. Combined with the extremely gifted Oteil Burbridge on bass guitar, these instruments rocked the house. At the end, the Allman Brothers Band had one more treat for the encore, and that piece of ear candy was the beloved "Whipping Post." Fifty thousand people crooned together in satisfaction to the lyrics.

By the time the sun had started to set below the trees, Dave Matthews Band's roadies started organizing the equipment for the concert and waves of commotion had started brewing in the multitude.

Sublime, a widely known sign that Dave is about to come on stage, started playing over the gargantuan sound system. When the Sublime songs finished, the entire stage went black, and from the darkness, orbs illuminated in an ambient blue glow. Mass hysteria swept through the crowd, rippling across the cohesive and groovy audience.

At that moment Dave Matthews entered from the side of the stage, donning a black shirt, five o'clock shadow and an ear to ear grin. Gripping his trademark acoustic guitar, he boyishly said hello in his goofy, playful manner. He opened up with "One Sweet World," and the cheers must have been heard all the way at Underground.

Woodstock revisited: the era of flower power was about to begin again. With intense energy, the Dave Matthews Band lit up the spectators. They jammed out to beloved classics such as "Two Step", "Don't Drink the Water" and "You Might Die Trying." The light show extravaganza that engulfed the band was hypnotic. A dazzling display of rotating spotlights and huge monitors that produced visualizations of fire, blood and the band were unbelievably thrilling. Further heightening the experience was the mind blowing drumming from Carter Beauford.

LeRoi Moore, the remarkably gifted saxophonist for Dave Matthews, was celebrating his birthday on Saturday and so the band sang "Happy Birthday" to him in style: in front of 50,000 plus screaming fans. Later in the evening, his bridge between the songs "Anyone Seen the Bridge" and "Too Much" was quite impressive. Also equally impressive was the jaw dropping bass guitar work by Stefan Lessard.

He was definitely rocking when he swung a beautiful six string bass around his neck and played it to its full potential in a funky and bluesy slap, pick and hammer on juggernaut solo on the band's more recent song "Corn Bread."

Continuing mostly non-stop, the DMB played some old goodies like "Grey Street," "Warehouse" and "So Much to Say." Also the band played their new single "Eee Hee," which has a music video that debuted on Sept. 4th.

The two most memorable performances came in the form of two duets. One of these duets was an awesome synthesis between Warren Haynes electric guitar and Dave's acoustic on "What Would You Say."

The most lasting impression from the performance, to me, was Dave's duet with Gregg Allman in "Melissa" and the encore finale. In one spellbinding moment, Allman flashed back in time to produce, with Dave, a breathtaking rendition of "Melissa." Gently strumming over his simple acoustic guitar, age seemed to leave him, revealing an awe inspiring vintage master at work.

That's when the concert went into a wild stratosphere of bodacious rock and roll. Stefan Lessard began wailing on his bass guitar, beginning with an intricate solo that led into one of the most enjoyable covers of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."

No longer able to control themselves, the massive crowd was head banging and letting loose to this earth shattering performance. The final song played was an over-the-top musical jam out of "Ants Marching" that left all of the fans speechless and gratified.

The event aimed at raising awareness and activity in the conservation of the planet, and the concert succeeded in raising over $1 million to expand the beloved Piedmont Park by 53 acres.

Overall, I believe that this concert was one that will go down in the record books as one of the most electrifying in Atlanta's history. I don't think that any of the fans at the concert will ever forget it.