My favorite band of all-time has long been the Dave Matthews Band. Love him, hate him, say what you will. I know plenty of people who get him but even more that don’t. They’re one of the most successful touring bands of all-time and you will never see the same show twice. You may think otherwise, but trust me, I’ve seen them nearly thirty times and have never and will never see the same show twice. Sure some things are the same like the crazy antics and guitar stylings Dave possesses, the roars that fill the amphitheater when either violinist Boyd Tinsley or drummer Carter Beauford takes on a solo, but they never play the same setlist twice. And that’s rare for a mainstream band, although I don’t exactly consider the DMB mainstream or pop. But that’s a completely different story.
One of the ways that the DMB has built their success is by constant touring. A lot they do is very similar to both the Grateful Dead and Phish; in the way they handle the business side of music. While you can find any Dave Matthews concert online, they also have a series called Live Trax. I’ve got over fifty bootleg shows in my collection, but obviously the soundboard recordings are the pristine recordings. Last month they released Volume 16 in the series, which is finally a long-awaited Cincinnati release from the June 26, 2000 show. It was actually a two-night stand here in town, a thing of the past. This was just the third time I saw the band, and while I don’t exactly have a photographic memory of that night, I’m sure when I put this CD on I’ll go back and revive those special memories.
Just looking at the setlist, I can already reimagine what a stellar show this was. The show started off with a ten-minute version of “#41″, followed by “Warehouse”, “One Sweet World”, “Say Goodbye”, “Jimi Thing” clocking in at sixteen minutes, the rare “Sweet Up and Down”, a near fourteen-minute version of “Typical Situation”, the rare “Little Thing”, “Grey Street”, a near twelve-minute “Bartender” followed by a near eleven-minute “Crush”, ”Drive In Drive Out”, a rare “Song That Jane Likes”, a rare “JTR” and “Too Much.” The encore consisted of a very rare “#40″, a new “Digging A Ditch” and one of the best closers, a near sixteen-minute “Two Step.”
My fellow Cincinnati DMB fans, order the CD here and relive the glory days of the Dave Matthews Band.
4 comments
dmbfan4ever says:
October 6, 2009 at 3:01 pm (UTC -4 )
RIP Leroi
James says:
October 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm (UTC -4 )
This is a great album. The Dave Matthews Band are a very talented group of musicians, great band.
scott says:
October 7, 2009 at 4:54 am (UTC -4 )
Loved your article on DMB. That show they released was my first ever dave show. I have seen 6 since. But it was a great show my favorite because of the first i think. There are alot of dmb haters for some reason. I know if the haters saw him live they would change how they feel. I was on his website when the cd was debuted. They had a shirt with the cincinnati reds logo. Do you know if they still sell those or where i can get one?
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November 6, 2009 at 2:40 am (UTC -4 )
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