My DMB Fat Tuesday

First off, I do not have a band that controls my life. For the past 4 years, the Dave Matthews Band has influenced my life and helped me find a place of solace. Whether it's been finding secret messages to help me with everyday challenges, a subtle reminder of how great life is and to cherish it, or to cope with the loss of a loved one, DMB has helped me get past my shitty days and has driven my best.

So with less than 14 hours left of DMB listening, I have decided to listen to atleast 2-3 shows during the day. I'm going to be starting with 8/9/08 from the Alpine Music Theater in East Troy, MI. It's a great show featuring the famous Anyone Seen the Bridge -> Too Much (fake) -> Halloween.

The next 3 shows I'm considering. One is 7/10/04 in Hershey, PA. This show is amazing and features all four 2004 songs (Sugar Will, Crazy Easy, Good Good Time, and Joy Ride). All are pretty much defunct with the exception of Sugar Will. It also features a great Rhyme and Reason and one of the most amazing versions of Jimi Thing I have ever heard.

The next show is 10/2/07 at the Hollywood Bowl in California. This show was incredible featuring an amazing #41 with John Mayer, Exodus with the Wailors, and five sons featured Danny Barnes on banjo. The show also had an amazing encore with American Baby Intro going into Grey Street with a nice transition by Butch Taylor on the keys.

I am currently downloading this last show, 7/7/01 at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. This show features the 5 or 6 famous Pig teases where Dave refused to play it because so many people brought Pig signs to the venue. He states many times angrily in the IEM recording of the show how he won't play it to the band. The show opened with Grey Street which is personal favorite of mine, especially that version.

Since I've listened to 7/10/04 so much, I may start with Alpine into Chicago and maybe try to fit in Hershey or Hollywood. So there we go. My last 14 hours with DMB before I go 40 straight days of fresh music and new inspirations.

"Find some inspiration, it's down deep inside of you." - Boyd Tinsley "True Reflections"

That Particular Moment...

You ever just listen to a song or a version of a song and it just makes you stop and think? Has it ever really made you feel like you missed someone so much and they are there with you while you are listening to that song? I have had that moment three times in the past year. It's not just an emotional climax of a song but a feeling that completely over comes you.

When I lost my grandmother back in April, the first thing I did was put on Lie In Our Graves by DMB. The reprise hit me so fucking hard but it let me realize that my grandmother spent her living days well. As me and my dad (it was his mother) were driving the next day after the funeral, I put my iPod in on his car and put on LIOG and told him to listen. That was one of the moments that got him into DMB casually.

That was my first moment. The second was N2 in Camden (less than 2 months since her death). They played Granny 3rd in the show and I was so happy to hear it because that was the other song that reminded me of her. Later in the show, they played LIOG. I was upset they didn't do the reprise but during that solo by Boyd, I cried. Not teared up but fuckin' cried. It was the best solo of his I have ever heard in any song in my honest opinion. It was so melodic and pure music. It wasn't like one of his fiddle solos. It had so much energy behind it that it felt like he was playing it for her.

The third happened the other day. I know in my previous post I wrote about LT14 and how much I miss LeRoi Moore. Well that feeling of missing him kinda hit again. It wasn't even during a song he played on. The show was 8/29/08 at the Gorge. Roi had died 10 days prior to this show. The band was inbetween songs and the crowd just went nuts, throwing glow sticks on the stage which obviously the band was overcome with emotion, they then went in #41, a song Dave claimed Roi HATED. It was during the second refrain where Dave sings "I wanted to play, I wanted to love you" that it was known that he was crying through the song. The video is on Youtube and you can see the pain in his face.

I know I have an obsession with DMB music. It's the music that drives me though. It's so unconventional but emotional, kinda like me. I'm not perfect and never will I be. That's what this music does for me. It helps me through my tough times too. It's my medicine and I don't care what other people think of my listening habits. DMB's music has become a major part of my life.

My thoughts on the LT 14 selection

So I'm a huge DMB fan and just recently DMBand.com released the selection for Live Trax 14. They chose the 3rd straight 2008 Summer Tour show, choosing 6/28/08 from Bristow, VA. What was so special about this show is that it was LeRoi Moore's last show. Moore died on August 19 in LA from complications of his ATV crash on June 30.

I am all for this release despite the okay set and okay performance. This was the official end of an era for this band as Jeff Coffin his Roi's temporary replacement at sax. The album art for this show is awesome with Roi on the cover. They are also releasing a beautiful shirt as well with the famous Flower Sax shown on the poster of Roi's birthday this past September at Berkeley. The biggest key to this release is that all proceeds will go to the LeRoi Moore Fund, a great tribute indeed.

I love this release. I was so shocked when he died and I even shed a tear. He was one of the reasons why I got into DMB. I have always been a fan of the saxophone even thought I don't play the instrument. His music was amazing and it's still hard and always will be hard to see DMB perform without Roi on stage. I'm not knocking Coffin, he is amazing and brings so much energy to the table but his style is different than Roi's. On April 14, I will be seeing DMB for the first time without Roi and I know I will enjoy the show but I guarantee I will miss him during #41, Watchtower, Typical Situation, and every other song he tears apart.

Here is the set list.