music A show for young and old alike! It’s the last show of the summer tour and three generations of Dave Matthews Band fans have arrived at what is now officially Charlottesville’s arena from as far away as Canada and as near as Albemarle High School. With me for the evening is 15-year-old Simon, whose parents just bought tickets outside. Simon says a lot of people his age are at the concert. How many are here with their parents? Pause. “Pretty much all of them,” 14-year-old Madeline, Simon’s friend, says. Simon is so excited he can barely speak, until the lights go out and he yells, “Yeah!” People wave cell phones like lighters. Dave walks out first, alone. The crowd roars and he throws his arms up in triumph. He is glad to be home.

In the beginning, everybody is tense, or at least having problems with tense, as evidenced by the sign on the backstage door that says, “Employees only passed this point.”