December 12th, 2002
By: Grace Agostin
News Editor
Since they stepped outside of Charlottesville, Va., to release Under The Table and Dreaming, a winter tour has always been expected from the Dave Matthews Band.
In 2001, however, that changed. There was no winter tour, and one didn't seem likely this year either.
In early September, DMB finished its tour at The Gorge in Washington and it seemed unclear when the band would tour again. Violinist Boyd Tinsley wanted to finish his solo album, scheduled for release in January. Bass player Stefan Lessard's plans were to snowboard in the Winter X Games, and Dave wanted to spend more time with his family while writing more songs.
As for drummer Carter Beauford and Saxophone player LeRoi Moore, they just wanted to take it easy.
But as the Dave Matthews Band starts its winter tour at the St. Pete Times Forum Tuesday, it could be the beginning of the quintet's return to its earlier days in the music industry.
Fall tours for DMB usually mean stepping away from promotion and playing a mixture of songs from throughout their career, including cover songs and unreleased tunes.
The Tweeter Center, Chicago, IL, August 29, 2002
The Allstate Arena, April 26, 2002
By Anthony Kuzminski
The Dave Matthews Band may be the biggest enigma in the entire music industry. How did a jam band whose sound is forged through non-traditional instruments become the largest touring act in all of America? I still have no idea, but they owe a large part of it to their live shows. People flock to their shows year after year and consistently go see the band again and again. Nobody else could do this. Not the Stones, Springsteen or U2. The Dave Matthews Band is the highest grossing act in North America over the last five years. People like the Stones, Tina Turner, Cher and many others wow us with their gross intake for live performances. Something overlooked is the price of concert tickets. Not only is the Dave Matthews Band the highest grossing over the last five years, but also it is also the most attended. This is utterly beguiling. Every year, they come to town and play amphitheaters, arenas and stadiums and constantly fill them. They fill them whether they have a new album to plug or not. No other band could do this, year after year, not even the Stones.
August 14th, 2002
Billy Mabray
I'm pretty sure I've liked every Dave Matthews song I've ever heard, which makes it strange that this is only the second of their CDs that I've bought. Considering that DMB (which is what all the cool people call them) releases about a dozen CDs per year (give or take the difference between a dozen and the actual number), it's even more amazing that I've avoided them this long. I've finally traced the reason for this back to a psychologically scarring event in my childhood. Back then, all of my music purchases were from either Columbia House or BMG. In one of my bulk purchases, I ordered Crush, because I'd always liked the song, "What Would You Say." Yes, of course, you know that song is actually on Under the Table and Dreaming, but, at the time, I didn't. It didn't matter how good the CD was, I was still disappointed. And I had held that against DMB all these years.
Well, for shame on me. Busted Stuff is a good album. And it has a story, which makes any CD better. It seems that DMB made an album several years ago that was never released. That, of course, didn't keep it from making the rounds on the Internet. Busted Stuff contains new versions of many of those songs. I've never heard the old versions -- supposedly, they're darker and, according to some, better than the new versions. I wouldn't worry too much about that if I were you. The new versions are very, very good. I don't believe your life will be any worse for having never heard the old ones.
May 31, 2002
It's a typical situation: A rock band takes the stage and simply runs through a predictable list of its biggest singles. Such concerts can turn a $50 ticket into a virtual greatest-hits album populated by live musicians.
Too bad Tuesday night's show at Madison Square Garden wasn't billed as "The Very Best of Dave Matthews." While I own five recordings by the South African-born, Virginia-based guitar-strumming vocalist, I found myself struggling to identify most of what I heard. The brightly rendered "Jimi Thing" and "Two Step" were familiar, but the preponderance of new songs left me scratching my head.
As I review concerts, I usually scrawl song titles in the dark (made easier this night by Fenton Williams's lovely lighting design, accented with notes of tangerine, cobalt and snow), then scribble observations about intriguing things on stage and off. Throughout my notes for this show, the words "mystery tune" appear over and over again.
Of the 19 songs Matthews and his five sidemen played during their two-hour, 35-minute set, five were from his latest album "Everyday," while four appear on the cleverly titled recording, "Busted Stuff." It doesn't hit stores until July 16.
The youthful, well-groomed, and snappily-dressed crowd drifted a bit as the unknown compositions poured through the crisply mixed sound system. (The most casual patrons wore T-shirts labeled "Abercrombie & Fitch," as if those inside them needed to be so identified.) Several guests near me, when they were not yapping on their cell phones, had trouble telling me the titles we heard.
May 16th, 2002
Metroactive
By Todd Inoue and Jim Harrington
LOCAL MUSIC scribe Jim Harrington has seen more than 20 Dave Matthews Band shows in different states, clubs and amphitheaters. Metro music editor Todd Inoue would rather listen to DMX than DMB and has no clue as to why the band commands so much attention. Regardless, the Dave Matthews Band plays two nights (May 18-19) at Shoreline in support of its 2001 album, Everyday, and a forthcoming odds-and-sods collection Busted Stuff.