Dave Matthews Lets His Spirit Loose for Rothbury Set

Dave Matthews' between-song banter devolved almost as quickly as the mental capacity of those campers experimenting with mind-altering substances in Rothbury's Sherwood Forest. At the onset of the nearly three-hour performance he talked about the weather in mundane terms ("What a beautiful day"), but less than 30 minutes later he was riffing about laying in a hammock and trying to "touch the moon with [his] tongue." Surprisingly, as his stage presence grew more unhinged, the group's musical explorations tightened. A galloping "Tripping Billies" mixed mirth ("Eat, drink and be merry...") and morbidity ("...for tomorrow we die."); "So Damn Lucky" built to a dizzying, horn-fueled climax; a true-to-its-source take on Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" proved a smart selection, as violinist Boyd Tinsley sawed at his instrument as if he was trying to start a fire.

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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