DMB... Up Close and Personal

News has just broken that Dave Matthew's Band will not be touring next summer.

In our little household, this is devastating news.

I mean... I realize that the band has been touring every summer for the last 20 years.

But don't they know that some of our summers revolve around this fact?

Obviously we are crazy Dave Matthew's fans.

I'll admit it.

Hello?

My son's name is Matthew.

If I'd had my way, he would have been Matthew David.

We were actually at the show at Staples Center in L.A. on the day that Leroi passed away.

Here you can see how I reacted to that...

I was a total and complete mess for the entire concert.

We traveled to the Gorge in Washington to see them.

But the Gorge really should be a post all it's own, it's located here.

In December though... we got incredibly lucky.

Dave Matthew's was performing acoustic with Tim Reynolds at Planet Hollywood here in Vegas.

A friend of mine happened to work for the venue and happened to get us pretty much the greatest seats of all time.

I've been to alot of Dave shows.

I've never been very close.

I've always been pretty much okay with this because a DMB show has an indescribable energy and just being there and being able to experience it has been enough.

But my friend... and the Planet Hollywood show...

3rd row!!!

Here's how close we were...

We were so close that I could see the beads of sweat on their faces.

So close that I could hear their fingers hit the strings of the guitars.

So close that I could probably have jumped on the stage and hugged Dave before security dragged me off the stage.

(I chose to avoid the last possibility being that I was 5 months pregnant and that I wasn't moving as quick as I normally could). ;o)

I felt like it was my own personal concert.
When you're that close, you almost forget that there are tens of thousands of people behind you.

We got pictures like this.


And this.


And this.


And videos like this.


It was a magical evening.
I spent the majority of the concert trying to figure out if I was dreaming.
The whole thing was unreal.

We'll miss you next summer Dave.
For now... I have a trip to plan.
Maybe DMB in San Diego???
Here's hoping!

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King

If you don't already know it about me, I love LOVE LoVe the Dave Matthews Band. I was actually at the show at the Staples Center in LA last year that you see at :46 seconds on this video. It was the day that the bands incredibly talented saxophone player Leroi Moore passed out of our world and into a better place. It was the most heartbreaking show I've ever been to, filled with raw emotion. When Dave announced the news to the sold out crowd, you could actually feel the emotion overcome the crowd like a giant wave. The new album is out and better than ever. This quick video really gives a sense of where the brilliant music on this disc came from. It is, in my humble opinion, their best album in a long time.
I highly recommend it!