Last night I went to see Dave Matthews Band at The Hollywood Bowl because Dave Matthews is an outstanding musician with an incredible catalog of songs, despite what all you eye-rolling hipsters think. I guarantee you all listened to him ten years ago just like I did.

I was curious about what the experience would be like almost 12 years after my last DMB concert-going experience (Giants Stadium, Summer 2001, I think…). Turns out it’s almost exactly the same. Here are the details:

• Everyone is roughly 10-12 years older than you. You think, “wait, but my generation was the biggest Dave Matthews fan base!” but then realize you were 12 when Dave got big.

• Everyone is dressed roughly like they were 10-12 years ago. You think, “wait, is that person 25 or 35 because they’re wearing a shear tank as if they’re 25 buuut they appear to also be 5 months pregnant?”

• The Dave Matthews Band, on the other hand, has not aged a day since the last time you saw them and are dressed in the exact same clothes. Literally, I swear to you Carter Beauford (the drummer, but you pretend haters knew that) was wearing the same football jersey when I saw him in the Meadowlands in ’01.

• EVERYONE SMOKES POT. I do recall a good amount of pot smokage at my previous DMB-going experiences, but this was intense. I attribute this to the fact that I now go to concerts in California vs. New Jersey. 

• People drive to Los Angeles from places like Tennessee for this! Literally I sat in traffic behind a guy from Tennessee on my way to the show, and he had one of those dancing lady decals on the back of his 1999 Four-Runner (see above). Los Angeles is an lovely place, and DMB is a fantastic act, but TENNESSEE to LA for a CONCERT unattached to a festival is nuts. 

• Apparently bald men dressed in business casual attire and drinking red wine are most likely to know every single word to every single song. There were two of them within a four row radius of me. I can only image what those guys looked like 10-12 years ago (the same). 

• Two Step is a dynamite song. He closed with it. The crowd went wild. That’s all. 

•  American Idol contestant Phillip Phillips really does look, sound and act just like Dave. I was a denier at first because of my sincere love for Phillip (he does not! he’s is so original! plus he’s way cuter than Dave!), but turns out it’s a direct copy. That probably explains why Dave didn’t invite Phillip to play the bowl with him. I remain disappointed. And yes, that is something you “real music” lovers are welcome to criticize.