It seems like "the ants" are still marching. Playing together for its 13th year, Dave Matthews Band continues to show fans why it is often considered one of the best bands of the last decade. And while many lesser bands might have begun to fade at this point, Dave and his bandmates will do anything but "crash" as they continue to dazzle audiences all over the globe. That's why this July, in the middle of their summer tour, over 30,000 eclectic fans packed into Hershey Park Stadium in Hershey, Penn. to see Dave Matthews Band perform.

You had to have lived under a rock over the past decade to have never heard of Dave Matthews Band. This summer alone it was almost impossible to avoid one of Dave's concerts. The band's summer began June 11, 2004 at the Bonnaroo festival, and continued with a 75 day, 35 city tour.

They will give a free concert at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on September 12, appear at Farm Aid (which was founded in 1985 "to keep family farmers on their land"), and then will finish up with a six-city run on the "Vote For Change" Tour (which is a Kerry/Edwards promotion tour featuring Bruce Springsteen, Dixie Chicks, REM, Pearl Jam, and Jurassic 5 among many, many other big names).

The July 10 show on Hershey Park stage was opened by Galactic, an up-and-coming band that resembles Dave in a lot of ways.

Located a parking lot away from Hershey's chocolate-themed amusement park, Hershey Park Stadium's intimate interior is a great venue for a concert. Filling into overcrowded parking lots on grass fields decorated with empty beer cans and rising smoke, fans from all different walks of life came to see Dave.

This diverse group featured everyone from the 50-year-old "Deadhead," riding his bicycle," to the 28-year-old lawyer going back to see the band she grew up with, to the 20-year-old sorority girls who pack into a jeep to drive out for the day, to the 16-year-old who's never seen Dave in concert and is eager to experience what his friends dub the "best show you'll ever see."

And Dave didn't fail any of them. After touring alone last summer to promote his Grammy-winning solo album, Some Devil, Matthews came back with his band for this summer's tour. His mixture of songs managed to satisfy everyone in the crowd.

His set ranged from songs that were in heavy rotation on the radio like "The Space Between" and "Where Are You Going?" to songs that even the newest of Dave fans would know such as "One Sweet World." He also played some new numbers like "Crazy Easy," "Sugar Will," and the Bonnaroo-debuted "Good Good Time."

But Dave concerts are really special because of the songs that aren't known to everyone, but get the whole crowd singing along. These songs are the ones that he puts a little more effort into; the ones that don't ever seem to end, but no one seems to mind because they don't want to stop dancing and singing along.

For my first Dave concert, this song for me was "Satellite." For this concert it was "Song that Jane Likes," "Grey Street," and "What Would You Say," which was sung more by the audience than it was by Dave. He ended the set with another crowd-enchanting song, "Rapunzel."

But Matthews was not done yet. Coming back out for his encore, Dave went through a series of songs, placing "Prelude"-the original intro to "Grace Is Gone" that was abandoned in studio in 2000-right in the middle. He concluded the night's festivities with a rousing rendition of "Ants Marching," certainly a fan favorite.

Even though he may not be on the top of the Billboard charts anymore, Dave Matthews certainly still knows how to rock an audience. And one of his greatest strengths is being able to change his set from concert to concert, from night to night. You never know what you're going to get with him, like when Matthews referred to his recent performance at John Kerry's Radio City benefit, rapping about individualism at the end of a drawn out "Jimi Thing."

Even after a full day of rides and sun at the neighboring amusement park, the audience still had enough energy to match the band.

The only thing missing, as most concert-goers pointed out, was the song "Crash," though even this did not prevent Dave Matthews Band from remaining the "king of the castle" for adoring fans.