http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-09-06-0278.html
Dave Matthews and his bandmates wandered around the cavernous stage wordlessly. For several minutes, as a crowd of 45,000-plus waved glowing cell phones and chanted "Let's go, Hokies!," the group appeared to revel in the emotion ricocheting throughout Lane Stadium.
The band conceived and headlined last night's A Concert For Virginia Tech, a free 4½-hour event that also featured John Mayer, rapper Nas and country singer Phil Vassar, to raise the spirits on Tech's campus.
That spirit was tested in April when Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 fellow students and faculty in what became the largest school shooting massacre in U.S. history. Cho, a mentally unstable student, killed himself after firing hundreds of rounds.
But Tech students seemed ebullient about last night's concert and the expansiveness of the famous musicians.
It's a great way for all of us to get together," said Tech student Kevin Schafer. "I think it shows our strength. After 9/11, the whole country came together. On a smaller scale, we came together as a school."
That unity was most evident during the Dave Matthews Band's two-hour set, which included fervent sing-a-longs of "Where Are You Going," "Grey Street" and the smoky, jazz-infused ballad "Crush."
"We were so looking forward to coming here and partying with y'all," Matthews drawled early in the set, setting a pleasant and mellow tone.
Under an orbit of lights, the quintet danced through its freewheeling jams, welcoming Mayer back to the stage to solo extensively on "#41."
During his own set before the Dave Matthews Band, Mayer sported a dark Hokies United T-shirt and stormed through "No Such Thing" and "Waiting on the World to Change," anthems directed at a college-aged crowd.
"We want it to be like this all of the time," Mayer said, smiling at the crowd. "I'm gonna remember this."
Tech student Kyle Johnson said his friends were excited all day about the concert.
"We were so happy to have them here. We were excited during cIass all day. The members of the music industry really reached out to Tech," said Johnson, a senior. "They're not making money on this. They're helping in our healing process. I think it's a great thing. I think it's a really great thing.''
All four acts waived their fees for the event. No money from the Hokie Memorial Fund, which has collected millions in donations to help the victims of the April 16 massacre, was used to cover expenses for this concert.
Singer Vassar, a Lynchburg native, proclaimed that "The Hokie nation is rockin'!," before zipping through a 25-minute set of his countrified Springsteen-styIe songs, including "This Is My Life," which he dedicated to "you guys here at Tech." He was also joined briefly onstage by Tech football coach Frank Beamer.
Concertgoers politely climbed over each other, desperately seeking seats in the general-admission stands. One free ticket was made available for every Tech student enrolled for the fall semester as well as 2007 spring and summer graduates and all Tech faculty and staff. All were given the opportunity to purchase one additional ticket for $40.
The concert attracted minor controversy shortly after the lineup was announced this summer because of the inclusion of Nas, a rapper with some violence-themed songs in his catalog.
"I don't advocate what he says in some of his lyrics, but I think any intelligent listener can discern what he means," said Andy Sarles, a second-year mechanical engineering doctoral candidate at Tech who sat with his wife, Kelsey.
But last night, the artist, clad in a maroon T-shirt and gleaming sneakers, was thoughtful and respectful as he paced the stage while DJ Scratch mixed beats -- but also acknowledged the debate about his presence.
"I relate to your struggle and I relate to your pain," he said after chanting through "One Mic." "For those who don't understand what Nas is about, like that chump Bill O'Reilly, I got a song for you," he said as operatic strains ballooned into "Hate Me Now."
The crowd, a sea of maroon and orange clothing and baseball caps, screamed approvingly.
The concert was the first at the 50,000-seat Lane Stadium Tech has about 28,000 students.
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