23 Apr 2003, The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA, USA


Hello! I recently saw the Dixie Dregs for the first time in my life (i'm 16) at the Birchmere in Virginia. Here's a quick review.

- My friend and I barely made it for the Dregs. There's a long story as to how we got lost and accidentally drove to my mom's work, but it's not important. Let's just say we were VERY angry that we wouldn't be making it on time (45 minutes late or so). However, as soon as we rushed into the theater of the Birchmere, something downright comical happened. The vocalist of the previous band, the Pseudopods, said something along the lines of "thanks for coming out to see us, up next is the Dixie Dregs, stick around!". At that moment you can imagine the look on my face. Anyway, we found a table in the corner and saw one of the best shows of our lives. They went through lots of different kinds of songs, and Take It Off The Top (my personal favorite) made the place go crazy. I don't have a complete playlist, my friend swiped one of those from the back actually. There was an incredible drum solo by Rod, and he did some incredible antics with a basic 4/4 cowbell, which soon exploded into a mass of sounds surrounding it. It was incredible to think that such sounds were coming from only 2 hands and 2 feet. Morse was playing at his finest, and I've never heard such incredible shredding skills from the band before. They came out for an encore, and soon after they announced that they would be signing autographs. I got to meet Steve, Rod, and Dave and get pictures with all of them. I couldn't believe it. Even though I only recently got into the Dregs (being 16), I still am totally impressed with the band's humble attitude, and how much fun they are having after all these years. This is the musician's band if there ever was one. Thank you Dixie Dregs.

Joel Hansen