CMAC concert season roundup

The concert season at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center is coming to a close this weekend, with two high-profile performances. On Saturday, My Morning Jacket will rock out with The New Pornographers. Then on Sunday, country star Jason Aldean will close out the 2010 concert series.  

Although the season isn’t quite finished, Play is taking a look back at the season, which kicked off on June 13 with country group Sugarland. In one of its most stacked concert seasons yet, CMAC brought over 20 acts to the shell. Giant names like Phish, Ringo Starr and Dave Matthews have passed through Hopewell since June, performing to sold-out crowds and captivated fans. Legends like The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull and REO Speedwagon offered a blast from the past.

Crowds coming to see performances this year ran the gamut of young kids experiencing their first show to veteran groupies who traveled hundreds of miles to see a favorite act. Probably the most impressive story of the season is when Dave Matthews announced a special one-night appearance at CMAC with his songwriter Tim Reynolds. The acoustic July 6 performance sold out in less than 30 minutes.

Compared to previous years, this concert season was quiet in terms of traffic jams and bad audience behavior. Apart from the Phish concert drug arrests, no scandals or crime sprees came with bigger names and bigger crowds.

Here are the Top 5 shows of the 2010 CMAC season, in order, as voted on by Play readers in our online poll:

1. Phish. This trippy band with a cult following cruised through CMAC on June 29. It seemed like one big dance party as fans grooved to classic Phish songs like “Down With Disease” and newer jams such as “Joy.” Although there were more than a dozen arrests after the show (mostly for drug possession), police and CMAC representatives noted the crowd was well-behaved. “Some (fans) live up to that stereotype, but most of us just want to have a good time,” Drew West, 32, of Irondequoit said when interviewed at the show."

2. Barenaked Ladies. Otherwise known as BNL, the alternative band that made it big in the late ’90s dropped one of its founding members, put out another album and hit the road. They recently stopped at CMAC on Aug. 14 to a pumped-up crowd and played through some of their popular hits. The Barenaked Ladies performed with guests Ben Kweller and Angel Taylor.

3. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. The hyped-up show that sent even Warehouse members scrambling for tickets was on July 6 under the shell. Fans of the musical duo got to spend an intimate evening with the two superstars during the acoustic show. The two performed songs from Dave Matthews Band projects and collaboration pieces. Dave and Tim played through a set list that topped 25 songs, including jam pieces like “Lie in Our Graves,” and “Crush.” After exiting the stage, fans cheered for an encore — and got two. The show ended almost four hours after the two took the stage.

4. Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band. Since the late ’80s, the former Beatles drummer has assembled an ever-shifting combo of retro rock veterans, and on July 21, they graced the stage at CMAC. Both old and new hippies, rock and roll alumni, Beatles lovers and followers of Starr’s new lineup all raucously chanted “Ringo, Ringo, Ringo …” and when he returned to the stage for one last hurrah, he sang the notorious “With a Little Help from My Friends."

5. The Flaming Lips. It was balloons and confetti at CMAC on July 23 when the psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips all but lit the stage on fire for a crowd under the shell. Front man Wayne Coyne pulled out his trademark showmanship, which included opening the set by rolling out into the crowd in a huge inflatable ball. Fans at CMAC were showered by Coyne’s confetti bazookas as well as huge balloons that were tossed around. Ohio rockers The Black Keys opened for the Lips with a short set of riff-based blues rock. Fans walked out with their minds blown — and a pocketful of confetti.

So who didn’t make the cut? Runners-up include Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow and REO Speedwagon with Pat Benatar.