Quote:
Originally Posted by KevinTH
Nothing too interesting but it's been a fun ride...
2000 - I missed my Columbus home shows, which as one can imagine I was rather upset about this. Later that summer my buddy was scrolling the tour dates and came across 9/18/00 in Maryland Heights, MO. So a week before the show we put our plan together, got a couple more guys to join us and we were on our way. We left the morning of the show, hung at our motel for a few beers, headed to the show where we were treated to what ended up being one of the greatest DMB shows with the Flecktones as guests. After the show we were slamming beers in the car on the way out and I had an emergency urination stop on the side of the highway. I was so out of it that at some point I must have toppled over because the next thing I knew I was on the ground and my elbow was bleeding (still have the scar). Probably needed stitches, but just drank more, and then woke up the next morning with what would be one of the worst hangovers I have ever had, and proceeded to vomit for 7 1/2 hours of the 8 hour trip home. Just in time to start my first day of college the very next day.
2002 - Attended the first night at Polaris, 8/5/02, and woke up the next day missing my wallet with my ticket for night 2. I had a lawn ticket, and I believe the show was sold out. Ants wasn't what it is today, and nor was the internet in general, so I had no idea what to do and was panicking. At the last minute I ended up scoring two tickets 18th row for my brother and me. This was the first time I had ever been so close to the stage, and what a night to be close. The energy in that pavilion was through the roof, and the show was fantastic from start to end (absolutely worthy of an LT release). On the way out we passed lost and found and I said, ah screw it, "By chance did anyone return a black wallet?" Just like that the woman turned to one of the cubbies, pulled out a black wallet that had my license and two tickets for night 2 in it.
2003 - Like many, I was absolutely blown away by the set lists to start the 2003 tour, so immediately upon exiting Columbus night 2, a plan formed to attend the two Cinci shows the following week. 3 of my buddies and I packed the van the afternoon of the first Cinci show, rolled in just in time to score lawn tickets and catch another amazing set, that included my first ever Minarets, and first of the tour. Drove the nearly two hours back to Columbus, grabbed a solid sleep, and then my buddy asked if I wanted to go back for night 2. Last minute we hopped in the car and did the same thing we did the night before, only this time we ended up hanging with a group of smokin' babes that we would end up staying in touch with for a couple years. We all hit Waffle House after the show, then drove the 2 hours back to Columbus, snagged a few hours sleep and was back to work the next morning at Elektro Kopy!
There's been many more adventures since, such as my wife (then my girlfriend) coming up with some elaborate plan to surprise me with tickets to the Mansfield 6/25/08 show. She knew how badly I wanted to go and see Tim Reynolds play with the band. I thought for sure this was a once in a lifetime chance to see him play with the band. Assumed it would only be for one summer. The story to throw me off her track was so well thought out and detailed that I could not believe it when she showed up with a pack of Coors Light and two tickets to the show. I ended up being even more thankful for that show when Roi passed. It also was the greatest Two Step ever played. She surprised me one other time in 2010, and when we were living closer to Boston we made a VERY last minute decision to hop on the train and catch 12/9/12, which was an incredible show that landed us stranded in Boston because they went over and our last train left. Had to call a buddy of ours in Southie to come drive our drunk asses back to Wilmington (not sure there was an Uber yet).
But nothing could amount to that of The Gorge in 2016. My wife was just wrapping up grad school, and after 2 years of her in school and me fending for the two of us, we went all out. We went to Glacier National Park where we camped and hiked for 5 days. On our last day we got up and drove 8 hours west to The Gorge where I would live out my most epic dream. Reaching the top of the hill and looking down on that stage was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and was followed by 3 days and nights of inexplicable joy.
The cherry on top is that this past summer with everything being as crazy as it was, I grabbed my guitar, a friend of mine that works sound and video, and we drove across the country in 3 1/2 days to The Gorge where I was given permission to perform an acoustic set on the Cave B Winery stage. We filmed it and aired it live Labor Day weekend. Getting to perform in front of The Gorge like that was most definitely one of the top highlights of my life, even without. crowd present. But I'm pretty sure I never would have dreamed something like this up had DMB and all of my adventures not existed.
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Kevin, I love those stories, all of them. It is like DMB has been the source for such memories for you, and then you and your wife. I love the 2002 story, just showing like something extraordinary can start from a bad adventure, and the whole thing starts to make sense in a different way. Now I want to listen that Polaris 2002 show, I bet you have a tape of it. Also Mansfield 6/25/08 show, I want to listen that too.
I love the Columbus 2003 story with the smoking babes, do you have any photo of that? Do you have any photo at all of all the stories you mentioned?
The hiking in 2016? That sound gorgeous to me. The Gorge by itself seems like a dream to me, I have never been and it is becoming a thing-to-do-before-I-die, I am getting obsessed with that and my wife that doesn’t like DMB (se says that Dave has a funny voice, like he is at the toilet) finally is understanding how great it would be for me and maybe after all this shit we all will go one day.
I just can imagine the two of you, getting to that top, with the sensation of freedom, watching the stage so far, and knowing that the best is yet to come. It is amazing to notice how this gives me now such a strong emotion here, 10’000 miles away from that place. I love [i]”Into the Wild”[/B] movie, it is such an inspiring movie and the music is great too. I lived something like that back in ‘95, I was 23, I just graduated and I fulfilled a dream to travel across the State. I spent three weeks on a van and the tents with some guys from everywhere, thru the Grand Canyon, Route66, Yosemite, San Francisco and the Monument Valley, then at the end of the trip I took a plane to somewhere in the NW, then got a car, all by myself, drove to Yellowstone and the Glacier National Park. I didn’t know the DMB at that time, the BoDeans were my soundtrack, and I remember i had planned to spend the night camping alone in some dark spot of Glacier, then being warned by the other people that were around: “beware of the bears”. When it got dark, watching the stars, I got di scared, each noise to me was a bear, and at one point I almost peed in my pants for the fear (I mean, it was
really dark) that I packed my sleeping bag in three second and run away, then slept in my car. My 4-years-old daughter loves this story and she laughs so much when I tell her, mostly for the part when I run away back in the car.
Your wife must be terrific, making you those surprises, and keeping doing that year by year, and still surprising you. She must be great, and it is great that you share this passion. Sometimes Dave Matthews’s music creates a bond, like the story of the other night of Chelsea (I hope she writes more about that), that she and her sister had created such a special bond around DMB, that is consolidating over the years. I imagine you must have a great book of photos, together over the years (I am quite jealous of that, I must admit).
You made me think of a couple of DMB stories I could tell, but it is getting too late, I will write that some other time.