Dave Matthews Band plays first Nassau Coliseum show

Dave Matthews Band perform at the Nikon Theatre at Jones... — Dave Matthews Band perform at the Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach in Wantagh (July 21, 2009). Credit: Newsday/Ana P. Gutierrez

By STEVE KNOPPERSpecial to NewsdayNovember 1, 2010

After painstakingly advancing from tiny club shows to its first show at Jones Beach, on Sept. 3, 1995, the Dave Matthews Band has jammed in Long Island dozens of times, for hundreds of hours, over the past two decades. The band's show Wednesday is a first on Long Island, though - Matthews and company have never played Nassau Coliseum. (The band plans to take a rare summer off in 2011.) So see them now and check out some other DMB career firsts:

FIRST SONG

Fans debate whether "I'll Back You Up" (written for a woman Matthews proposed to) or "The Song That Jane Likes" came first. Both landed on the band's first demo, then its first album, in 1993.

FIRST SHOW

For years, the band insisted its first public show was on April 20, 1991, for an Earth Day benefit at Meade Park in its hometown of Charlottesville, Va. But last month, bassist Stefan Lessard revised the history, tweeting that he found a tape of a show (minus violinist Boyd Tinsley) on March 14 of that year, a benefit for the Mid East Children's Alliance at a club called Trax. "I knew I remembered our first show, Earth Day never felt right to me," he tweeted. The obsessive fan site antsmarching.org initially responded with skepticism - "Surely this was just some inebriated tweet" - but ultimately agreed.

FIRST ALBUM

"Remember Two Things," on the band's own Bama Rags label, contains a bunch of long live jams, leading off with "Ants Marching."

SEE PHOTOSDave Matthews Band

FIRST MILLION-SELLING ALBUM

"Under the Table and Dreaming," released in 1994, which transitioned from jamming to tighter, pop hits ("What Would You Say," a new version of "Ants Marching") produced by veteran Steve Lilywhite.

FIRST NEW YORK PERFORMANCE

Something called the "Quad Demo," recorded in the city with Matthews and friends who were not in the actual band, has been circulating since early 1992. But the first proper Dave Matthews Band show here was likely July 17, 1992, at the Wetlands Preserve in TriBeCa, which included a version of "What Would You Say."

FIRST AMPHITHEATRE SHOW

It was Aug. 12, 1993, at the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, in Raleigh, N.C., with the H.O.R.D.E. tour, a jam-band fest also starring Widespread Panic, the Samples and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Since then, DMB has become the most consistent amphitheater headliner in the world, racking up more than $350 million, according to Pollstar, as the top-grossing act from 2000 to 2009.

WHO: Dave Matthews Band

WHEN | WHERE: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nassau Coliseum

INFO: $50.90-$97.60; 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com

WHAT CRITICS SAY

"Improvisation and extended instrumental breakdowns confirmed DMB's reputation as a jam band as well as showcasing the group's virtuosity as musicians."

- Chris Merriman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"DMB were at their best when they rocked out, which was about half the time, on songs like 'Why I Am,' 'You and Me,' 'Gravedigger,' 'Warehouse' and 'Grey Street.' When they didn't, it was a good time to chat up your neighbor."

- Gary Budzak, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

"Slipping a few bars of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land Is Your Land' into the middle of an emotional rendition of 'Don't Drink the Water,' Matthews struck a topical chord when he lingered on the line about Gulf Stream waters. The BP oil spill immediately came to mind.

- John Soeder, (Cleveland) Plain Dealer