Article Archives — dontburnthepig.org

Dave Matthews Band Fan Site

Virginia Tech concert was more than music

September 7th, 2007

By Anna L. Mallory and Greg Esposito
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG -- Making "good memories."

Dave Matthews had that goal in mind for the more than 50,000 people packed into Lane Stadium on Thursday night, and with the strumming of a guitar, a steady stadium "wave" and a few "Let's Go, Hokies" chants, it seemed he got his wish.

Matthews brought his band and joined John Mayer, Nas and Lynchburg native Phil Vassar in Blacksburg for "A Concert for Virginia Tech," a show aimed at bringing together the university community and helping it heal after the April 16 shootings.

"I figure memories are always good to have, and good ones are always the best," Matthews told the crowd at the opening of the show.

About 45,000 students, faculty, staff and first responders to the shootings received free tickets, as did 2007 graduates and victims' families. Late last week, the public was offered $65 tickets.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpSeptember 7, 2007

Rockers provide much-needed escape

September 7th, 2007

By Ralph Berrier Jr.

BLACKSBURG -- So why was Bill O'Reilly so upset with Phil Vassar? He seems like a nice guy, so I don't get all the fuss over his lyrics.

What's that? Oh, it was Nas who was supposed to be the controversial guy? Well, Vassar, Nassar, whatever. Nobody was going to ruin this night for the Hokie Nation. Nobody was going to spoil this Concert for Virginia Tech.

Spearheaded by longtime Charlottesville resident and jam-band demigod Dave Matthews, the concert was about as chilled-out an affair as you could have with 50,000 of your closest orange and maroon clad buddies at Lane Stadium. From Vassar's just-happy-to-be-here kickoff to Nas and his defiant raps, from John Mayer's astounding blues-soaked set to the Dave Matthews Band's arena-sized singalongs, the concert provided just what a grieving campus needs -- a sense of peace and community.

"The world should be like this all the time," Mayer said during his 50-minute set.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpSeptember 7, 2007

King of the road

August 23, 2007

Ray Waddell

NASHVILLE - From the humble beginnings of drummer Carter Beauford's mother's basement and a crucial Tuesday night residency at Trax in Charlottesville, Va., the Dave Matthews Band has become the biggest touring success story to emerge from the 1990s.

Riding and then surpassing a wave of success from a rejuvenated post-Grateful Dead jam band scene, DMB has become, quite simply, the top-drawing American band in the world. In fact, only one act -- the Rolling Stones -- sold more tickets than DMB did in the preceding decade.

Band founder Dave Matthews was a reluctant frontman as he made the switch from Charlottesville bartender. The band has not been dependent on radio airplay (though it has enjoyed some) or platinum record sales (which it has enjoyed as well). DMB is a touring band, one of the most successful that has ever hit the highway, and its connection with its fans is via the live-performance conduit from stage to audience.

Billboard spoke with Matthews in the downtime before a May show in Dublin, as the band was about to embark on yet another massive North American tour. Matthews was relaxed, thoughtful and humble as he discussed the past, present and future of DMB, and how important it is to "get it right."

2007, interviewsdbtpAugust 23, 2007

Dave Matthews Band delights packed Blossom crowd on a soggy, song-filled night

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 21, 2007

DMB plays steady and mellow Saturday night at Verizon

August 20th, 2007

By Robert Herrington

While Friday evening’s opener was a musical thrill ride which took the audience through tempo peaks and valleys, much of Saturday evening’s Dave Matthews Band show at Verizon Wireless Music Center proved more even keeled and predictable.

Some of the predictability came from DMB concert constants – the show was sold out and the audience was hanging on Matthews’ every guitar strum and vocal projection. The crowd was also treated to an old-fashion concert performance based on impeccable musicianship and not laser light shows and pyrotechnics.

Also, every musician on stage – including all five DMB members and guests Butch Taylor, keyboards, and Rashawn Ross, trumpet – had ample soloing time during the concert.

With DMB, one of the best aspects of its live shows are the different set lists each night – with no two concerts ever the same. While the energy was there on stage, the crowd seemed hit-and-miss with the song selection Saturday. In contrast to Friday’s musical rollercoaster, Saturday was steady and mellow. The band lacked the highs and lows that usually come in its live shows.

Despite playing the fan favorites “Ants Marching” as the set closer and “Two Step” as the encore closer, the crowd seemed too unemotional – with many in the lawn deciding to sit on the ground rather than dance on the hill – to really appreciate the attempt to salvage the show’s energy level.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 20, 2007

DMB and friends rock sold-out SPAC

August 15th, 2007

By CE SKIDMORE

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Dave Matthews and his namesake band open a show as if they were playing an encore. It’s high-energy and the kids love it.

The air was palpable, heavy with the scent of bug spray and body odor. When Matthews and company took the stage, the crowd moved as a single organism, larger than life and ebbing like the tide.

They loved him. He barely had to speak, as all his words were met with a shrill squeal of approval.

The Dave Matthews Band played to a sold-out crowd Tuesday night at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Its music is a folky, jazzy, funky sort with an inexplicable pop star appeal.

Matthews’ hairline is receding. You can see the stubble darken his face as he sings.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 15, 2007

Dave Matthews teases, delivers

August 6th, 2007

By DONNIE MOORHOUSE

Music writer

HARTFORD - It happens every summer, like traffic on the Cape, and still they come in droves.

The Dave Matthews Band played the Dodge Music Center in Hartford on Saturday night, the first of two sold-out shows at the venue.

Since 1994, when Matthews and his band earned critical and commercial success with their sophomore release "Under the Table and Dreaming," the Dave Matthews Band traveling show has been a staple at summer sheds like the Dodge.

It seems that the audience has eerily remained perpetually young, forever poised in that "last summer before (insert life-changing benchmark here)" of youth.

A nonchalant Matthews opened the show by easing the band into "Best of What's Around," then instantly picked up the pace with "When the World Ends."

He referred to the first several songs as "little love songs." They included "One Sweet World" and "Hunger for the Great Light."

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 6, 2007

Starbucks and XM Radio team up to promote DMB "Live Trax"

August 5th, 2007

Starbucks and XM Radio have teamed up to promote the Dave Matthews Band’s new album “Live Trax” and celebrate the newly re-launched Starbucks music channel exclusively on XM, “Starbucks XM Café” (XM 45), which will feature songs from the new album and special DMB programming on the weekday music show "The Daily Grind." From July 31 through August 31, a Starbucks in-store sweepstakes will offer customers who sign up for a free trial of XM Radio Online, the chance to win tickets, passes and a meet and greet with Dave Matthews at The Hollywood Bowl on October 2, among other prizes. Complete details will be available online (http://www.xmradio.com/dmb) beginning Tuesday, July 31.

XM Radio and Starbucks Team Up to Promote Release and Tour, Featuring In-Store Sweepstakes and Specialty Programming on Newly Re-Launched Starbucks XM Café Channel

2007, articlesdbtpAugust 5, 2007

Favorite Tunes, Freshly Done

August 5th, 2007

By THOMAS KINTNER | Special to the Courant

Tuesday night's Police show in East Hartford may have been this summer's local buzz event, but multi-night stands by the Dave Matthews Band in front of full houses at the Dodge Music Center in Hartford are the reliable centerpiece of the outdoor concert season in these parts.

Saturday night, the steadily appealing act that has been anchoring the season annually since the 1990s opened this year's stop in town with a fluid program stacked with favorite tunes, and took enough turns and liberties with the material to keep it fresh for an adoring sellout crowd.

The seven-piece band's manner is that of a jam band for listeners with relatively short attentions spans, as it dips and swerves through tunes while avoiding lengthy detours. An opener of "Best of What's Around" was typical of the method, a generally compact delivery of a song in which Matthews' rhythm acoustic guitar-playing and the crisp drum presence of Carter Beauford gave the song's eclectic bob a backbone.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 5, 2007

Matthews for non-believers

August 2nd, 2007

By Christopher John Treacy

Trust me: Even if you can’t stand Dave Matthews, going to see his live show will make you a believer.

Getting back into gear after a short break in their summer tour, Matthews and his band sounded inspired last night for the first of two gigs at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield.

Matthews took the stage - to mass hysteria - looking a bit pensive. Scratching his chin, arching his brow and pacing the stage, he carefully assessed the crowd before launching into a set of dark songs performed with purpose and feeling.

An unlikely opener, the dreamlike romanticism of “Crush” set the evening’s tone. The Dave Matthews Band made it work by dramatically stretching the mysterious, jazz-tinged melody, adding solos from electric violinist Boyd Tinsley and sax man LeRoi Moore straight away.

The brooding rocker “You Might Die Trying” was tempered by Butch Taylor’s delicate keyboard tinkling, and the old fan fave “Dancing Nancies” made for an excellent showcase of the DMB’s strengths. And “When the World Ends” benefited from Matthews’ unusually charged vocal delivery - in fact, his singing sounded as if he’s been taking greater care of himself.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 2, 2007

Dave Matthews Band strikes up the jam

August 2nd, 2007

By Stu Woo
Journal Staff Writer

MANSFIELD, Mass. — It is 2007, eight years after its last breakthrough album, four years after its lead singer released a disappointing solo album and two years after its last studio album, but the Dave Matthews Band — and especially its fans — don’t seem to care.

When the popular jam band opened its three-hour set at the Tweeter Center last night with “Crush,” it appeared as if the band was trying to relive its glory days in the latter half of the 1990s, when it released the hit albums Crash and Before These Crowded Streets. But despite their lack of success in the new millennium, their fans remain loyal.

That’s because Dave Matthews Band fans do not come to watch the band play their songs, many of which are now staples on soft-rock radio. They come to see them jam. That was clear during “Crush,” the first song, which was extended into a 10-minute jam session. While it’s not something that everyone would enjoy, fans thrived on the extended, improvised jams of the seven-man ensemble — especially that of violinist Boyd Tinsley. Several times throughout the night, Tinsley used his violin to banter with fans, flashing them a blissful grin through the dreadlocks that flew around his face as he bounced onstage.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpAugust 2, 2007

Dave Matthews Band Live and Exclusive at Starbucks

July 30th, 2007

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)----Starbucks Entertainment announced today that Dave Matthews Band "Live Trax" CD will be exclusively available at Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. and Canada beginning on July 31, 2007. The exclusive compilation from Bama Rags/RCA Records features recordings of Dave Matthews Band performances dating back to 1995. Since 2004, Dave Matthews Band has released albums in the "Live Trax" series via their Web site and at concerts. "Live Trax," exclusively available at Starbucks, is the first national retail release in the series.

"Live Trax" features recordings from their Meadow Brook Music Festival performance in Rochester Hills, Michigan in 1995 through to their March 2007 show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with additional performances at Golden Gate Park, Fenway Park and Hampton Coliseum.

dbtpJuly 30, 2007

Rolling Stone: Q&A with Dave Matthews

July 28th, 2007

Rolling Stone – Issue 1032 – August 9^th, 2007

The DMB Leader on partying with Dabney Coleman and Jane Goodall

By Austin Scaggs

Summer means two things in America: It’s hot, and the Dave Matthews Band is on tour. After temporarily aborting work on their next album – “Let’s not try and take a shit when we haven’t got any crap inside us,” is Matthews charming explination – DMB will strike on August 1^st for two full months of amphitheater gigs across the country. Meanwhile, Matthews is prepping the CD and DVD release of Live at Radio City (culled from an April 22^nd date he played with guitarist Tim Reynolds) and has joined a crusade to ensure returning GIs get their due medical benefits. And on June 19^th, the Matthews family welcomed a baby boy, August Oliver. “I call him Louie,” says Matthews from his home in Seattle. “We had our baby at home, which was nice, because I knew where the beer was.”

2007, articles, interviewsdbtpJuly 28, 2007

Dave Matthews Goes Green with Eco-Friendly Diapers

July 9th, 2007

By Tim Nudd

Rock star Dave Matthews's infant son, August, is getting an early lesson in environmental protection: He wears reusable cloth diapers rather than the disposable kind.

"We use cloth diapers for our new baby because I think diapers might be the No. 3 piece of garbage [in terms of environmental damage]," Matthews said at a Live Earth press conference on Saturday. "So, if you have a little cloth diaper service nearby, that's good."

August Oliver Matthews is the third child for the musician and his wife, Ashley Harper. He was born at the family's home in Seattle on June 19. August has fraternal twin sisters Stella Busina and Grace Anne, who are 5 years old.

"August Oliver joins his two twin sisters, and the entire family is doing well!" Matthews' rep said in a statement.

2007, articles, magazinesdbtpJuly 9, 2007

Live Earth's embrace circles the globe

July 8th, 2007

By Erika Hayasaki and Alicia Lozano, Times Staff Writers

Critics say the concerts' goal is unfocused. Stars took the stage anyway, including Madonna, the Police and, of course, Al Gore.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Live Earth, the confederacy of musicians who performed Saturday on all seven continents to highlight the issues of global climate change, featured superstars such as Madonna and the Police entertaining crowds in packed stadiums, but also parka-wearing scientists at an Antarctic research station whose audience included wandering penguins.

Live Earth used the now-familiar template of concerts-for-causes shaped largely by Live Aid, the 1985 famine relief shows. But the 24 hours of music circling the globe Saturday used the Internet and high-definition camera technologies to create a uniquely 21st century event.

Leading up to Saturday, though, Live Earth was also criticized by some for being too vague in its cause or for being a promotional tool for its cofounder, environmental activist Al Gore, the former vice president.

2007, articles, concert reviewsdbtpJuly 8, 2007

A drumbeat for action on warming

July 8th, 2007

By Dan DeLuca

Inquirer Music Critic

TIM LARSEN / Associated Press

Performers around the world united in song yesterday to help take the heat off the planet. Live Earth, a series of concerts designed to raise awareness of global warming, kicked off its U.S. segment at Giants Stadium in N.J., where Keith Urban and Alicia Keys performed. A2.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Outside on the New Jersey Turnpike, cars were spewing the CO2 emissions that Live Earth pied piper Al Gore calls "the exhalation of the industrial age."

But inside Giants Stadium yesterday at the principal American location of a global event that included climate-change consciousness-raising concerts on all seven continents - if you can call a band of scientists called Nunatak performing on an Antarctic ice floe a concert - the gospel of green was in full effect.

On a day that celebrated Gore as a prophet and his Oscar winning film An Inconvenient Truth as a holy text, an impressive array of stadium-sized acts including the Police, Dave Matthews Band, Bon Jovi and Roger Waters did their best to make recycling, using energy-efficient lightbulbs, and turning the heat down seem cool.

2007, articles, concert reviewsdbtpJuly 8, 2007

A Global Chorus on Climate Change

July 8th, 2007

By JON PARELES

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., July 8 – A concert for a cause is more and less than a concert. It’s public relations and proselytizing for the cause, while for the musicians, it’s exposure, validation and a sop to a star’s conscience. Live Earth, the biggest international rock event so far – with concerts on every continent including a small one on Antarctica – was presented as an attempt to save the human race from global warming.

Previous international concerts like Live Aid and Live 8 were about helping other people, while Live Earth, speakers insisted, was in everyone’s self-interest. There’s no need for altruism when your own survival is threatened. And in an era when pop is spectacularly self-absorbed, from the bragging of hip-hop to the whining of emo, Live Earth was perfectly pitched as an appeal to self-preservation.

2007, articles, concert reviewsdbtpJuly 8, 2007

Dave Matthews has key unseen role for new creepy film 'Joshua'

July 5th, 2007

NEW YORK: Although Dave Matthews' face is never seen in the new movie "Joshua," he plays a crucial role in the spooky film, writing the song the demented child character croons as the film draws to a close.

"I wanted it to be delivered in a sweet way by the boy, but I also wanted it to be really horrifying," the singer told The Associated Press.

"Joshua," which opens in limited release Friday and expands to wider release later this month, is about a musical child whose family life dramatically alters once his baby sister is born. Quickly, the family starts to fall apart, and Joshua seems to be at the center of its downfall.

The leader of the Dave Matthews Band is part of the company, ATO Pictures, that produced "Joshua," starring Sam Rockwell. Matthews says he was involved in finding the film project, but was not very involved in the production (one exception — urging that Rockwell be one of the actors).

However, he always knew he wanted to try to write the song planned for the crucial final scene.

2007, articles, moviesdbtpJuly 5, 2007

No halfway for hard-touring Matthews

July 1st, 2007

^{By Ray Waddell
NASHVILLE (Billboard)}

From the humble beginnings of drummer Carter Beauford's mother's basement and a crucial Tuesday-night residency at Trax in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Dave Matthews Band has become the biggest touring success story to emerge from the 1990s.

Riding and then surpassing a wave of success from a rejuvenated post-Grateful Dead jam band scene, DMB has become, quite simply, the top-drawing American band in the world. In fact, only one act -- the Rolling Stones -- sold more tickets than DMB did in the preceding decade.

Band founder Dave Matthews was a reluctant frontman as he made the switch from Charlottesville bartender. The band has not been dependent on radio airplay (though it has enjoyed some) or platinum record sales (which it has enjoyed as well). DMB is a touring band, one of the most successful that has ever hit the highway, and its connection with its fans is via the live-performance conduit from stage to audience.

2007, articles, interviewsdbtpJuly 1, 2007

Dave Matthews Band at Wembley Arena

June 1st, 2007

By David Sinclair

It has been six years since the ill-advised poster campaign that posed the question “Who is Dave Matthews?”, and most people in Britain are still none the wiser. It hasn’t stopped the South African-born bandleader from Charlottesville, Virginia, from continuing to sell many millions of records in America, or from filling Wembley Arena on the only British date of his current European tour.

Matthews is the ultimate antidote to the cult of celebrity. Impervious to all known varieties of hype, he inspires adoration, loyalty and respect purely for his abilities as a singer and songwriter and for the incredibly developed musical talents of his band, which he convened in 1991. Standing at the front of the huge Wembley stage in his plain jeans and brown shoes, Matthews looked more ordinary than most of the people in the audience.

2007, concert reviewsdbtpJune 1, 2007