In a word, the concert was incredible. The opening act was SPEECH, formerly of Arrested Development. My wife and I had no idea that he would be there and until he introduced himself after the first song, we thought it was just another no-name band. The two songs of note that they sang were Tennessee and Everyday People. After a long delay, which always seems to accompany concerts, Hootie came out and started right in. All of their songs sounded exactly like a CD with a couple of exceptions. During the song Time, Darius seemed to have forgotten the chorus which left his band repeating the lyric "TIME" over and over without the intervening lyrics. Darius also went through about three guitar strings throughout the concert.
The only other minor disappointment was "Hold My Hand," probably their best song which they saved until the end. Now I understand that they have been singing this song for over two years and they are probably pretty damn sick of it. To spice it up for them, they sped it up and changed the way they sang it. I understand their need to maintain interest but it is always such a disappointment when an artist does not sing the song like the fans are used to hearing it. It was not a total disappointment because Darius has such an awesome voice, but obviously, as a fan, I would have preferred to hear it as it sounds on the CD.
In short, it was a great concert and now I enjoy the CD's even more. I highly recommend it if you get a chance to see it.