Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

We follow up our longest episode ever...with another longest episode ever. But this one has more Kevaroo. That's right; your favorite Ants Mod and mine joins us to talk about the Twitter bonfire he lit and the resulting fallout. We also chat Jacksonville webcast, the Gorge Caravan supporting acts, and the dip in attendance numbers.

Fun facts:
- Bumper songs all from 7/18/2014
- Kevaroo thought he was going to be a guest the entire show, and so when we eventually got to him, he was a few beers deeper than anticipated
- We all collaborate off a Google Doc for our "agenda"
- Joe M likes my "radio voice" and accuses me of dropping to it when we're about to press record
- Ants+ members are awesome, and a fun addition to the live stream of these

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Listen from the front page (right hand column), Stitcher, iTunes, or /podcast!

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Pertaining to Jake's recap of the end of WPB N2, the band HAS to notice a mass crowd exodus during the last song when something as common (and uninspired) as Grey Street or Shake Me closes an encore. Looking out from the stage, seeing a flow of people emptying the audience while they're still playing, do you think they tell Dave, "Hey man, let's pick something better to close with next time"? Or do they just mail it in like they planned when they wrote the bland song choice and race to the tour bus afterward?

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

listening now

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Listening now.

But I do have to say, I agree with the first comment. The band has to notice people literally leaving before their eyes while still playing. I personally do not mind Grey Street anytime during the concert but the last song of the encore is... ugh love/hate. For the amount of times they've played it I don't think it gets old thought. But Mercy -> Everyday -> You and Me is pretty damn tough to watch back to back to back.

Was also hoping for a bit more of a unique setlist for Jacksonville, the acoustic set was pretty damn awesome. And all the way up to about Crush in the electric set I thought was great as well. Then I didn't pay much attention till grey street again (also warehouse). Still enjoyed the show though def a good performance. Was just expecting a little more variety is all.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Listening now. Nice work on the quick Barry Horowitz reference.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Listening now... I really hope the comment about Angel popping up at The Gorge doesn't happen :/

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

:lol Glad you caught it.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

nsync with jake

loving wings and WAYG need to go away

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

I like Joe M's philosophy at a show.... just pretty much dancing to everything. I recently adopted a 30 second rule at shows. If you dont like the song, you can complain about it for 30 seconds to your friends. Then after that, you have to stop and I end up getting into the song & dancing along with everyone else.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Great episode. Fully agree with Kevaroo's point on BOWA. It's a fucking crime that they don't play some of these songs more regularly.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

^^ agreed

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

he stole that from someone in Ants+


#shameonhim

Something isn't right with the intertwining of the band if they tell us they are family but a member can give an interview with rolling stone and makes a twitter campaign based on revisiting rarities then turns out to fall flat on their face on both.

Either that band member has lied to all of us, or the person ultimately running the show is a Narsassitic two face who only cares about himself because it's "his band." I guess the interpretation is up to us.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Hmm ive been to 7 shows so far this tour and while only 2 were sell outs the others were certainly very well attended. So idk about the down attendence. However you guys are the experts. The pittsburgh show was even stuffed and the uncovered pavillion there never gets used.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Two songs which add variety to the set, especially Loving wings, and yet you still complain. Some of you people will never be happy.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

it's gotta be option 2, right? i mean, maybe not to the extreme you laid out but i see stefan as the kid who asks for something and dave as the dad who says "maybe", which always means no.

fonz might be a little trigger happy with the social media stuff too, like posting before thinking

yea the post-gazette reported a sell-out at starlake, but there's no arguing that attendance is down across the board

it may have seen a slight boost this year with the elimination of a few venues, but they still aren't drawing like they used to

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Thanks for answering my Twitter question guys, great episode!

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

i love variety in the sets, i just don't like those songs

i don't have to like every song ever made by this band

and there are plenty of ppl here that will verify to you that i'm nowhere near as big of a complainer as most on the site

i just don't like those 2 songs, deal with it

No I get that. I mean I can understand not wanting WAYG, alot of you heard it way overplayed. I didn't follow til 07 so I never saw that.

Loving Wings is a pretty rare song, not liking it is one thing, but with the lack of variety of this tour, you're really trying to have your cake and eat it too if you're gonna start picking and choosing which rare songs you want them to play. That's all I was really trying to say.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

that's a fair point, and in fact, it's more about the placement with those songs...for example, last night in the acoustic set the run was:

stolen away
so damn lucky
loving wings

that's an awful 3 song run IMO, especially given there have been incredible acoustic sets this year

break those songs up and get some flow going or don't play loving wings/WAYG/stolen away at all

I can understand that. I would rather see loving wings E1.

Song placement this year has been nearly as bad as the set variety. I was dumbfounded when i saw the LL come out mid song for the SECOND night in a row Chicago N2

I predicted every song after that, other than Can't Stop which I didn't think they really could pull out and make worse, but they did.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

:lol can't stop :lol

my god

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Starlake was not sold out...

Dave Matthews Band
First Niagara Pavilion
Burgettstown, Pa.
June 28, 2014
$918,336
18,587 / 23,085 (1 / 0)

...but actually attendance this summer is up from last year at an average of 18,057 tickets sold per venue.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

all i said was that the post-gazette reported it as a sellout, no need to jump down my throat like usual...and as you can see in the part of my post that you conveniently did not quote, i already mentioned the attendance is up...

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

I can't but to flip flop on how I'm feeling about this tour so far.

We can't say there isn't variety and rare songs... because were getting good good time, back you up, stolen away, a much better So Right, Idea of you, pay for what you get, sledgehammer (fun song but not so rare), and were seeing songs return that we love like the stone and raven...

We have to remember we are getting some great versions of all these songs we love that we don't always get to see.

But on the other hand, these songs above are on the lower end of plays compared to songs from AFTW, Stand up, etc. It's like the band is so close to where we all want them to be... they just cant stop playing these other songs night after night that a lot of people don't seem too crazy about.

I really am torn...

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

Sometimes I wonder how much "Dave just plays what he wants" is because the rest of the band is so chill with him that they lay back and mostly let him do everything. There are instances over the past few tours where we can gather, basically using social media, that suggestions were made to him. In those instances, it seems like he does whatever they ask. Halloween at Hartford N2 in 2012 was a twitter suggestion from Fonz. I was under the impression that Minarets at Mansfield and Typical at Deer Creek were TDed under similar circumstances (Fonz informing Dave of various twitter campaigns). I seem to also recall Fonz attributing a TD of Ants replacing Squirm on the setlist at Atlanta 2012 to Carter. We know that they played True Reflections at Mansfield last year because Boyd asked Dave if they could. And this year, although LYD has not been played, many of the rarer songs that have been in semi-rotation (PFWYG, Stolen Away, GGT, IBYU) were from Fonz's twitter survey, which I assume means they were his suggestions as well. Hell, didn't Dave say something like "good call, Fonz" right after they TDed Rhyme & Reason a few weeks ago? Is it possible that "Dave just plays what he wants" because the rest of the band doesn't actually say much? I know Fonz makes it seem like he wants to dive deeper into the rarities from time to time on twitter, but is it possible that when it comes to his relationship with Dave, he doesn't actually say much?

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

I'm not jumping down your throat at all. Just stating facts.

However, per the quote I omitted...

2009 - 58 shows, 997,158 tickets sold (17,192 per show)
2010 - 57 shows, 1,052,312 tickets sold (18,461 per show)
2011 - Caravans
2012 - 41 shows, 757,629 tickets sold (18,478 per show)
2013 - 47 shows, 712,088 tickets sold (15,150 per show)
2014 - Through 22 shows, 397,255 tickets sold (18,057 per show)

A jump of roughly 3,000 tickets per show is more than a "slight boost" (just as the 3,000 ticket drop between 2012 and 2013 was a huge decline). A difference of a few hundred tickets per show is pretty much on par with what they were averaging between 2009 and 2012 (not including the Caravans). Interestingly enough, the post I copied these stats from was another response from me to you on the same topic. :lol

And I'm not trying to single you out, but sales stats are inarguable facts.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

But god damn would I love to see The Last Stop this year even though Dave apparently doesn't like it. And not slowed down like it was in 2010. Or was it slowed down? I feel like it was but not sure.

Re: Ants Podcast 42: Twittergate - Discussion
 

but i was never arguing sales facts? all i said was the post-gazette reported it that way. bad reporting on their part i guess

i also said they MAY have seen a slight boost in sales this year with the elimination of some venues...i wasn't trying to potray every word of mine to be stone cold facts, just the way venues looked so far on tour

thanks for the numbers though :thumbsup