Dave Matthews Band returned to The Gorge Amphitheatre to cap off the group’s summer tour with its annual three-day, guest-filled Labor Day Weekend run at the scenic venue on the banks of the Columbia River. Each night featured surprises and collaborations, including sit-ins from Goose‘s Rick Mitarotonda, newgrass banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck, and nightly appearances by Jake Renick Simpson (The Lil Smokies) on fiddle, plus DMB’s first-ever full-album performance.

The weekend kicked off on Friday with opening sets from Memphis-bred family soul blues band Southern Avenue and Icelandic blues outfit KALEO. DMB then welcomed fans with an 18+ minute “Seek Up” opener and proceeded to break out “Break Free” for the first time since last year’s visit to The Gorge and dust off “I Did It” for the first time in a decade.

The first guest sit-in arrived toward the end of the night, with Jake Renick Simpson joining in on “Lie in Our Graves” and “Ants Marching”, reviving the fiddle-heavy sound that defined both songs until Boyd Tinsley‘s departure from DMB in 2018. Night one finished on a high note with a triumphant “Two Step” in the encore slot.

Night two featured support from husband-and-wife folk duo Oskar & Julia and frequent DMB collaborators Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, who finished their first run of headlining shows since 2023 the night before in Portland, OR. DMB then took the stage and opened with a cover of Bob Dylan‘s “All Along the Watchtower” and “You Never Know” before welcoming crew member Joe Lawlor—who recently got called up to sit in at the band’s first show in Richmond, VA since the ’90s—to play guitar on “Cornbread”.

Bluegrass fusion pioneers Béla Fleck & the Flecktones—a group that at one time featured DMB multi-instrumentalist Jeff Coffin—then returned to the stage to add their unique instrumentation during “#41”, with Fleck on banjo, Victor Wooten on bass, Reggie “Future Man” Wooten on his one-of-a-kind drumitar, and Howard Levy on harmonica.

Dave Matthews Band With Béla Fleck & The Flecktones – “#41” – 8/30/25
[Video: Ansley .Snapp]

Immediately following the Flecktones’ sit-in, Dave Matthews Band surprised fans with its first-ever full-album recreation, performing Before These Crowded Streets in full without interruption. Béla Fleck returned again to add banjo on “The Last Stop” and a powerful “Don’t Drink the Water”, and then for a third time to help finish the album off with “Spoon” alongside Jake Renick Simpson (who also sat in on “Pig”). Both guests stuck around for “Satellite”, and Simpson helped close the main set with “Tripping Billies” before Dave capped the Saturday show with a solo cover of Tex Ritter‘s “Rye Whiskey” and a full-band rendition of “What Would You Say”.

Sunday’s grand finale opened with a set from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Louis Cato and was the most highly anticipated night of the run among jam aficionados thanks to the evening’s other support act, a little band called Goose. In a landmark year for the Connecticut indie-jam quartet—which has already seen the band release two studio albums and make its headlining debuts at Madison Square Garden and Jazz Fest—opening for Dave Matthews Band at The Gorge was more than just another notch in its belt. Guitarist/vocalist Rick Mitarotonda has often cited Dave Matthews as his first major influence, having been turned on to DMB by his older sister. That history made it all the more special when DMB called him up to sit in on Daniel Lanois‘ “The Maker”.

Dave Matthews Band With Rick Mitarotonda – “The Maker” (Daniel Lanois) – 8/31/25
[Video: Recreate Magazine]

Other Sunday highlights included the first “American Baby” in over a decade, another appearance from Jake Renick Simpson, and a trio version of “Kill the Preacher” featuring only Dave, drummer Carter Beauford, and guitarist Tim Reynolds. Matthews started the encore with his new song, “Peace on Earth”, once again taking the stage solo before inviting the full band back out to close out the weekend and the tour with a “Lie in Our Graves” reprise and “The Best of What’s Around”.

Click below to check out fan-shot video highlights from Dave Matthews Band’s Labor Day Weekend run at The Gorge Amphitheatre.

The three-night run marked the band’s final shows of 2025, but Dave and Tim are scheduled to perform at Farm Aid alongside Willie Nelson & Family, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, John Mellencamp, and Margo Price on September 20th and host their annual destination festival in Cancun, Mexico on January 21st–24th, 2026. Find more information and tickets here.

 

Dave Matthews Band – “Seek Up” – 8/29/25
[Video: Drea B]

Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 8/29/25
Set: Seek Up, The Song That Jane Likes, Big Eyed Fish, Bartender, Drive In, Drive Out, Say Goodbye, Break Free [1], So Much to Say > Anyone Seen the Bridge > Word Up! (Cameo), Lover Lay Down, I Did It [2], Dancing Nancies, Lie in Our Graves [3], Ants Marching [3], Gravedigger, Everyday, Joyride, So Right
Encore: Some Devil, Two Step [4]
[1] Tour debut
[2] First performance since 2015
[3] with Jake Renick Simpson on fiddle
[4] with Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Bach) and Time Bomb intros

Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 8/30/25
Set: All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan), You Never Know, Cornbread [1], It Could Happen, #41 [2], Before These Crowded Streets: Pantala Naga Pampa, Rapunzel, The Last Stop [3], Don’t Drink the Water [3], Stay (Wasting Time), Halloween, The Stone, Crush, The Dreaming Tree, Pig [4], Spoon [3][4], Satellite [3][4], Tripping Billies [4]
Encore: Rye Whiskey (Tex Ritter) [5], What Would You Say
[1] with Joe Lawlor
[2] with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones
[3] with Béla Fleck
[4] with Jake Renick Simpson on fiddle
[5] Dave solo
Note: First time DMB has performed a complete album (Before These Crowded Streets) uninterrupted at a show.

Setlist: Dave Matthews Band | The Gorge Amphitheatre | George, WA | 8/31/25
Set: Drunken Soldier, Hunger for the Great Light, Loving Wings [1], Walk Around the Moon, Minarets [2], The Maker (Daniel Lanois) [3], Shotgun, Jimi Thing, So Damn Lucky [4], Lying in the Hands of God > American Baby Intro > American Baby [5], Mercy [6], Grace Is Gone [7], Warehouse [7][8], Typical Situation [8], Kill the Preacher [9], Why I Am, Grey Street [10]
Encore: Peace on Earth [11], Lie in Our Graves (Reprise), The Best of What’s Around
[1] Tim on acoustic
[2] Dave scat intro
[3] with Rick Mitarotonda
[4] with Thank You (For Letting Me Be Myself Again) interpolation
[5] last time played 5/30/14 — 650 shows
[6] last time played by full band 3/6/19 — 390 shows
[7] with Jake Renick Simpson
[8] improv and stop-time intros
[8] Tim on acoustic guitar
[9] Dave, Carter, and Tim only
[10] Dave changed guitars halfway through verse 1
[11] Dave solo