[Matt]

Originally Posted by vkratliff

I really enjoyed listening to these yesterday. I've been going to DMB shows since 1996, and a lot of Matt's complaints/critiques are my own. The scene you described of climbing up the fence to get a peek or a better listen during soundcheck because there was so much mystery and excitement about setlists was spot-on.

I also really appreciated the point you were making about why bands live-post setlists on their websites to begin with. There used to be a valid reason with this band, and there really isn't anymore. I know things won't (and can't) ever be the same. Personnel changes, dynamics change, and times change. But there's something that pulled me toward this band way back in the mid-90s and kept me in that happy place until probably a few years ago, and now a significant part of that is gone. Maybe it's Dave's taste in his own music. Maybe it's the death of LeRoi and the departure of Boyd (or just the absence of violin in the mix). Maybe it's the unpredictability. I don't know. But it's sad.

Anyway, listening to you guys talk about this stuff in the podcasts led me to pull out my old binder full of soundboard shows I burned to discs years ago, and I listened to a 1993 show on the way to work this morning. And it was nice to have a Proustian flashback to what connected me to this band way back when. So thanks.

Originally Posted by GoingToCA91

Haven't listened to 101 yet, but the talk in 102 was interesting. I find myself with a much more positive disposition about the band than a lot of people on Ants, Matt included.

When it comes to the band "sounding great" last year, I'm one of the people saying things like that. What I personally mean is that I enjoyed the band in its current state, and that I thought the product on stage was elevated over the recent past. Perhaps it was the addition of keys or the absence of Boyd's... lack of effort on stage. I've only been seeing the band a couple of times a year since 2013, so my experiences are all recent. And last year's product (outside of a few songs that simply have to have a violin like Ants and Billies) was better than 2016's.

On the discussion of variety in setlists: I agree that logically, as the catalog grows the variety should probably be trending the other direction. I would appreciate more variety. That being said, I've been to 12 shows across the past 6 years and I've gotten 114 different song performances. That's a pretty good average of about 10 unique to me songs mixed in every show. So my personal anecdotal experience hasn't been as affected by the "lack of variety" that you see when rocking the couch tour. Now for someone like Joe that sees 46 shows per tour, I get wanting more variety, too.

As for posting live setlists, I don't think that's a very fair argument. The variety in song placement, selection, etc. is still there. That's demonstrated by the fact that people want to follow along at home. I want to see a notification pop up on my Apple Watch saying "DMB is playing the Stone" and say "oh shit that's cool, I'll have to find a recording of that later." If the setlists were truly foregone conclusions, why do people download DMB Hub and turn on notifications? Why do people follow DMBLiveSetlist on Twitter? Hell, the Setlist game was bigger last year than ever before, right?

Love how both of these posts posterize much of the debate that's happening in the community. Both points of input much appreciated - thanks folks!