At a time when stress is running rampant on college campuses and war is weighing heavy on people's minds, everyone needs a little diversion. And that is exactly what Dave Matthews and his long-time friend, Tim Reynolds, brought to Purdue University last Thursday night in their second-to-last stop of the duo's acoustic college tour.

The evening began with the sold-out crowd of 6,025 swelling through the doors, anxiously awaiting the night's music. Unlike the giant, impersonal stadiums Matthews easily sells out when he tours with his band, the atmosphere provided by the Elliott Hall of Music was intimate and relaxed, setting the mood for the evening to come.

Cheers greeted Matthews and Reynolds as they entered the dimly lit stage. Keeping with the minimalist approach to the acoustic evening, Matthews seated himself on a stool with only a small table and lamp separating him and Reynolds. With a few opening remarks from the performers and the sweet smell that so-often accompanies concerts hanging thick in the air, the familiar, heavy strumming began almost immediately. The audience welcomed the opening notes to the crowd-favorite, "Bartender," from Matthews' 2002 album Busted Stuff.

Without the layers of instrumentation the band usually provides, Matthews and Reynolds' version of the song was gentle and subdued, but the exquisite guitar work was by no means soft around the edges. The audience was serenaded by Matthews' smoky vocals, "When I was young I didn't think about it, now I can't get it out of my mind."

Matthews initially claimed to have "frog" in his throat, but throughout the entire three-and-one-half-hour performance, this was never evidenced by the fans.

Another favorite from Busted Stuff, "Grey Street," took the second spot in the set list, with Matthews and Reynolds effortlessly rolling through a charming rendition of the song before plunging into the paranoid plea of "The Stone" from 1998's Before These Crowded Streets.

Other highlights of the evening included a touching rendition of "Cry Freedom," from the 1996 album, Crash; a playful version of "Satellite," in which Matthews and Reynolds teased the audience by playing the opening notes in a minor key before switching to the familiar major key; and a taste of a lovely new song that Matthews and Reynolds have only been playing in concert for a week, "Stay or Leave."

In addition to playing his own songs, Matthews is known for tapping into the well-known song catalogs of other musicians during the improvised outros of his songs. On Thursday, he did this many times, slipping into Elvis Presley's "Fools Rush In," the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and the Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."

Perhaps best moment of the night occurred when the Matthews-Reynolds duo played the quiet and often over-looked song, "Pay For What You Get" from Under the Table and Dreaming. A song that hadn't been heard live since 1999 before this most recent college tour, "Pay For What You Get," was played with a poignancy that moved one fan to tears as Matthews sang, "Words, words, words, have you heard / A bird in hand is much better than / Any number free to wander."

Although Matthews is the better-known artist who most fans came to see, the guitar maestro Reynolds certainly charmed many fans who were unfamiliar with his solo work. His talent on guitar is extraordinary, and Matthews credits Reynolds as the one who encouraged him to perform onstage.

As well as contributing exquisite guitar work on all of Matthews' songs, Reynolds played two of his own numbers, hypnotizing the audience with fingerings that seemed to flit over the entire fret board. Reynolds also used a multitude of different strumming methods, from the basic up-down stroke to actually slapping and banging the strings with his hands. At first sight, the guitar seems a massive object on the diminutive Reynolds, but after a few notes, Reynolds proves that he is the one in charge, manipulating the guitar at his every whim and fancy.

In the moments of quiet acoustic noodlings and frenzied strumming between songs, Matthews kept the atmosphere comfortable and loose warming his audience with delightfully bizarre anecdotes. He joked about a friend of his who had an unfortunate, girl-repelling habit of smelling his fingers, as well as a baboon he once saw with a vibrantly colored and somewhat "stiff" appendage.

Matthews also poked fun at the many cameras floating around the stage that at times seemed invasive during the show. The audience, however, easily forgave the cameras due to the possibility that a DVD may be made chronicling the performance.

Although most of Matthews' ramblings were light-hearted, at times he carefully alluded to the war in Iraq and revealed his distaste for violence and desire for peace. He dedicated an aching version of "Grace Is Gone" to all those involved in the Middle Eastern fighting, hoping for their safety.

For the close of the show, Matthews and Reynolds turned out an explosive performance of the jam-classic "Two-Step" before leaving the stage only to be called back for an encore by the insistent fans.

Matthews and Reynolds fed off one another for an improvised session in which Matthews rambled about a dread-locked beggar who had no access to a shower. This unnamed diddy turned out to be the opening to a stunning version of the inquiring song, "Dancing Nancies." Although the song questions the many possibilities of life's outcomes, Matthews and Reynolds provided all the answers in their music. The ambiance was one of elation at the end of the show, as Matthews sang, "Look up at the sky / My mouth is open wide, lick and taste / What's the use in worrying, what's the use in hurrying?"

Certainly there was no worrying or hurrying at Purdue while the music played last Thursday. Matthews and Reynolds enchanted the audience for a spectacular show where time was non-existent and troubles seemed miles away. And as any fan at the show can certainly attest to, on Thursday night, celebrate they did.

Contact Julie Bender at bender.10@nd.edu

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