Incoming: Antz Marching, a Dave Matthews tribute band, to perform at Aquatorium

The band enjoys improvising on stage, so there’s variety from one show to the next.

MATT PETRAS
For the MVI

Jon Fish

The Monongahela Aquatorium’s Rockin’ on the Mon summer concert series continues this weekend with Dave Matthews Band tribute band Antz Marching’s first-ever show at the venue. Aquatorium regular Jon Fish will be the opener.

Gates open for Saturday’s show at 6 p.m., and tickets cost $10. Fish will play on the main stage preceding Antz Marching’s entrance at 7:30 p.m.

Based around the Pittsburgh area, Antz Marching has been playing for about 15 years. The challenge and variety of Dave Matthews Band music appeals to the band members.

“We all have a similar interest in the versatility of music,” said Antz Marching violin player and vocalist Heather Pinson. “I think Dave Matthews isn’t just kind of a one-size-fits-all kind of guy. … In one song, it can shift meters and have various time signatures.”

Because of the complexity of the music and opportunity for improvisation, the band doesn’t attempt to perfectly emulate the original music. They let Dave Matthews be Dave Matthews and let themselves be themselves.

“We definitely at the end of the show talk to each other like, ‘Oh, what did you do in that one song? We have to remember that for the next show,’” said drummer Ray Fortuna.

The band goes into each gig with a plan, but that plan often gets scrapped in the midst of a show depending on the particular vibes. At the very least, the band promises a good show with lots of familiar music.

“We’re there to welcome the people and play along with them,” Pinson said. “If the audience is into it, we’re into it. And we’re having a great time along with them.”

Fish, who has opened at the Aquatorium in years past, will do the same for Antz Marching. Last year, when opening for the tribute Highway Live, he focused on covers of the kind of ’70s rock one would expect to hear on radio station WDVE, he said, whereas this year, he’ll move to ’90s rock, like that of 105.9 The X.

“I hate to admit that one of my favorite songs right now to play is ‘Ants Marching,’ so I won’t be playing that one,” Fish said.

Fish, a Ringgold High School graduate, loves playing in the Valley.

“I know Monongahela pretty well,” Fish said. “Played there when I was a kid with a rock band, oh my gosh, 30, 25 years ago.”

“We definitely at the end of the show talk to each other like, ‘Oh, what did you do in that one song? We have to remember that for the next show.’”

RAY FORTUNA

DRUMMER