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Dave Matthews and A Concert For Charlottesville

September 25, 2017 - By Brando Rich

This weekend Dave Matthews held a concert in Charlottesville, Virginia in order to bring music and unity to the members of the Charlottesville community in response to the events that occurred there last month. Almost all of the members in Dave Matthews Band are from Charlottesville. Dave Matthews is originally from South Africa but said,

"I've lived a lot of paces in my life but most of the band is born and raised in Charlottesville. I love that town, it's more home than anywhere to me. And my family, if the band is my family, which they are, that is where my family is from. And when this happened, that terrible day in Charlottesville, the immediate thought is horror, but after that you what can we do?"

Dave Mathews Band was joined by many different artists who also wanted to help during this hard time and to shed light on the issues we face in this country with racism and the need for peace. There were powerful perforamces from Arianna Grande, Chris Stapleton, The Roots and more.The concert was completely free for the locals of the area. There was the option to donate money to the "Concert to Charlottesville Fund" at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. There was also a free nationwide live stream of the event.

The mother of Heather Heyer, the young woman killed by the attack in Charlottesville in August.

The evening was filled with many talented artists and special guests. Dave Matthews Band was the last act to go on. They had a high energy set starting out with "Don't Drink the Water". For the last three songs Stevie Wonder joined the band. It was completely unexpected and such a treat. After Stevie came out he took a knee. Matthews did the same. "I take a knee for America and two knees in prayer for our world. Amen," Wonder said. They played John Lennon's Imagine, which painted a beautiful picture of peace and unity. The next two songs they played were both covers of Stevie's, "Love's in Need of Love Today" and closed out with a powerful "Superstition".

Dave Matthews put this event on to get people to collectively acknowledge the issues that we face in this country of "racism and bigotry". Below is an interview with Dave and Pharrell Williams talking to Charlie Rose about those issues and the concert.