Photo via Jeff Coffin’s Facebook page

Last night, Dave Matthews Band returned to the road following a brief break for a performance at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC. The Virginia-bred group has been shuffling its setlists quite a bit this spring and last night the group kicked things off with the Under the Table and Dreaming standby “The Best of What’s Around.” Though the tune remains in regular rotation and, while Raleigh is a frequent stop on DMB’s tour schedule, DMB Almanac pointed out before the show that they had not performed the number in the region since 1997. 

Then, partway through Dave Matthews Band’s set, fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves emerged, joining DMB for the first time for the classics “Lie In Our Graves,” “Satellite” and “Tripping Billies,” the latter of which featured a Lost In Space interpolation. Hargreaves, who currently lives in the area and teaches bluegrass and improvisation at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, grew up playing with her her brother Alex Hargreaves, who is part of Billy Strings’ band, as well as Brittany Haas (Punch Brothers), Sarah Jarosz (I’m With Her), and Dominick Leslie (Molly Tuttle). 

During last night’s encore, Hargreaves returned to the stage to sing and play alongside Matthews on a duet version of “Papertown,” the new original Matthews contributed to the film of the same name and had only played one previous time. She is the latest in a series of guest fiddlers to join DMB durinng the past two years, the first time they have regularly brought in guests to play the instrument since Boyd Tinsley parted ways with the group in 2018. 

“It’s no secret—at least I don’t try to make it a secret—that I disagree with the policies of Israel and the United States in our treatment of the civilian population in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said from the stage. “That should by no means be twisted into anyone thinking that I am bigoted or antisemitic in any way at all. On the contrary, I have a deep respect and love—for all my life that I can remember—and admiration for the culture and history of the Jewish people. I don’t think any group of people have contributed more to the advancement and evolution of our understanding of each other and of the world around us and the universe. I mean, if we think of Albert Einstein or if we think of the music of George Gershwin or we think of the philosopher Hannah Arendt or Howard Zinn or, of course, the most famous child in the world, Anne Frank. And so many more. I have to say so many of my closest, dearest friends. I hold the Jewish people in the highest regard and it breaks my heart that my opinions borne out of deep commitment to nonviolent resolution and resistance can be twisted into serve any hateful, racist, or bigoted ideas. It breaks my heart and I am so sorry for any misunderstanding or pain I might’ve caused but my intention is to help bring an end to the seemingly endless violence in the world. I wanted to just mention, I’m not sure if I should but I’m going to, on October 7 two and a half years ago, I was attending my dearest friend’s son’s bar mitzvah. It was a beautiful day of witnessing and respect and love for this young man. And it was interrupted by the horror and the violence on the other side of the world. An ongoing horror. But the violence born out of that day against the Palestinian people is no less horrific and multiplies the death and the suffering over and over and over. I will never stop calling for an end to the violence in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon and for that matter, the Congo, and Sudan, and Ukraine. Or the horrific violence against immigrants and their neighbors in our country. I am opposed to violence from any government to any people and against children most of all. Because all children are our children. Every one. But my deepest fear is that we are becoming numb to it. Let’s not do that. Let’s work as long as we can to make a better world for our children.”

DMB will perform a homestate show at Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach this evening.