Gorge = Awesome Crowd = Horrible

[Prefect]

The Gorge shows this year were my 34th, 35th, and 36th shows. Never displeased to see the band... especially the past three years, their energy level and the showmanship has gone WAY up. I loved the new songs (it's been 8 years since I've liked new Dave!)

Here's what sucked. I camped at Getty's Cove in 2007. It was great, surrounded by DAVE FANS, nice people... etc. I got Gorge Camping this year. I've never been surrounded by so many LOUD, inconsiderate, perma-wasted, littering, destructive, NON DAVE FAN FOOLS.

Lemme just relay a couple examples of what I'm talking about. I saw some people chucking glass beer bottles from about 30 feet away at the dumpster near the exit to the venue... my friend who was with me yelled at 'em - "cause broken glass on the ground is cool!" the girl yelled back to her that she was an uptight asshole... and they continued to break bottles. It's a DAVE MATTHEWS BAND SHOW. Have you ever listened to their lyrics? The alpha male got all chest poundey when I flipped his girl off and told her I hope she has to be the one cleaning that stuff up one day.

At the end of the first night, I got back to my car... was sitting and quietly strumming on guitar while my friend and my surrounding campers got to sleep. I had to put up with an endless chain of dudebros walking by, yelling shit at me for playing guitar - making fun of me... then the totally shwasted ones would walk up and basically be loud and annoying til I gave them free beer. (at which point some still wouldn't leave despite my ignoring them) I asked one fella, humoring him, "so how was the show?" He said "I don't remember... didn't really want to come but I got VIP tickets" F*CK YOU BUDDY! I don't even know what VIP entails but this guy didn't even know where he was... or why he was there.

Third story is about the scalpers. My friend and I sold three tickets while we were there. We asked UNDER face for all of them. There were scalpers there combing the lots, buying tickets as "fans" and selling them for $150-250. There were normal dudes too driving the prices up... one of them even told my friend that he'd "take her down" when she refused his $200 ticket. I know scalping is scalping wherever you go... but it was fierce here... and seeing people fork over the money for those tickets... couldn't even feel sorry for them, they weren't being scammed, they were just willingly fueling that whole system.

Where'd the love go? Is it in another campground? There used to be kind people, actual fans... good experiences awaiting a camper at Dave shows. Now it seems to me it's just douches and dudebros who don't know a thing about Dave or what his music means. It kills me. I'm still nice at shows, I still treat it the same way I always have... I am quiet and respectful to my neighbors... I pack up my trash... I know what songs like Dive In are about.

Seriously when I started going to shows there was more granola and less Keystone. Go see Nickelback or whatever act supports your way of life and stay away from music you don't understand. That's my message to the "bros" who've adopted DMB in the past few years.

On the flip side, I did end up camping next to some really great people from British Columbia. The second day, a car full of kids drove into their campsite... I told them it was taken (their tent was still up), but they were like "who cares", so the BC neighbors double parked them in, and forced them to hang out with us til the next morning. Well they didn't hang out, they just called up their friend's little sister and tried to persuade her to bring her underage friends... so they could get them drunk.

This is a really fragmented message, I apologize to anyone who reads it through... I'm still pretty worn out from the whole weekend... no time for formatting.

One more thing - I was SICK of the Danny Barnes hate. I can't even say some of the stuff I heard the douchebros saying... they had no clue. Dave was clearly saving his voice during those songs so he could keep screaming by the time he got to Timebomb... I loved the Danny mini-sets each night.

Danny Barnes for DMB band member!

I get pumped to see so many people excited for my favorite band... but when it's for all the wrong reasons, and when those people's actions ALL WEEKEND are directly contradicting the message of the music... it's hard to try to fit in and have a good time.

[Prefect]

terrible. yes. bad crowd.

[ExperienceJones]

this weekend ruled

[Prefect]

it did yes... what's your point? that all the ideals of the music don't matter as long as you had a good time?

[lynda1117]

Thank you for voicing my biggest complaint. During the Saturday show, a couple of girls stood behind us and talked nonsense for an entire half hour. My boyfriend turned around and politely asked them to take themselves and their conversation elsewhere. He actually had to explain to them that we had come to enjoy the band and not their moronic conversation. I don't get it. These people travel hundreds of miles, spend hundreds of dollars then get so wasted they ruin it for the rest of us and have no memory of anything.

[Doofie27]

sorry that your experience with the gorge campground was so shitty, but this was our second year in a row there, and it was absolutely fine. theres always douchebags wherever you go, and usually the gorge has less of a concentration of them

[canadaheartsdmb]

Originally Posted by Prefect

The Gorge shows this year were my 34th, 35th, and 36th shows. Never displeased to see the band... especially the past three years, their energy level and the showmanship has gone WAY up. I loved the new songs (it's been 8 years since I've liked new Dave!)

Here's what sucked. I camped at Getty's Cove in 2007. It was great, surrounded by DAVE FANS, nice people... etc. I got Gorge Camping this year. I've never been surrounded by so many LOUD, inconsiderate, perma-wasted, littering, destructive, NON DAVE FAN FOOLS.

Lemme just relay a couple examples of what I'm talking about. I saw some people chucking glass beer bottles from about 30 feet away at the dumpster near the exit to the venue... my friend who was with me yelled at 'em - "cause broken glass on the ground is cool!" the girl yelled back to her that she was an uptight asshole... and they continued to break bottles. It's a DAVE MATTHEWS BAND SHOW. Have you ever listened to their lyrics? The alpha male got all chest poundey when I flipped his girl off and told her I hope she has to be the one cleaning that stuff up one day.

At the end of the first night, I got back to my car... was sitting and quietly strumming on guitar while my friend and my surrounding campers got to sleep. I had to put up with an endless chain of dudebros walking by, yelling shit at me for playing guitar - making fun of me... then the totally shwasted ones would walk up and basically be loud and annoying til I gave them free beer. (at which point some still wouldn't leave despite my ignoring them) I asked one fella, humoring him, "so how was the show?" He said "I don't remember... didn't really want to come but I got VIP tickets" F*CK YOU BUDDY! I don't even know what VIP entails but this guy didn't even know where he was... or why he was there.

Third story is about the scalpers. My friend and I sold three tickets while we were there. We asked UNDER face for all of them. There were scalpers there combing the lots, buying tickets as "fans" and selling them for $150-250. There were normal dudes too driving the prices up... one of them even told my friend that he'd "take her down" when she refused his $200 ticket. I know scalping is scalping wherever you go... but it was fierce here... and seeing people fork over the money for those tickets... couldn't even feel sorry for them, they weren't being scammed, they were just willingly fueling that whole system.

Where'd the love go? Is it in another campground? There used to be kind people, actual fans... good experiences awaiting a camper at Dave shows. Now it seems to me it's just douches and dudebros who don't know a thing about Dave or what his music means. It kills me. I'm still nice at shows, I still treat it the same way I always have... I am quiet and respectful to my neighbors... I pack up my trash... I know what songs like Dive In are about.

Seriously when I started going to shows there was more granola and less Keystone. Go see Nickelback or whatever act supports your way of life and stay away from music you don't understand. That's my message to the "bros" who've adopted DMB in the past few years.

On the flip side, I did end up camping next to some really great people from British Columbia. The second day, a car full of kids drove into their campsite... I told them it was taken (their tent was still up), but they were like "who cares", so the BC neighbors double parked them in, and forced them to hang out with us til the next morning. Well they didn't hang out, they just called up their friend's little sister and tried to persuade her to bring her underage friends... so they could get them drunk.

This is a really fragmented message, I apologize to anyone who reads it through... I'm still pretty worn out from the whole weekend... no time for formatting.

One more thing - I was SICK of the Danny Barnes hate. I can't even say some of the stuff I heard the douchebros saying... they had no clue. Dave was clearly saving his voice during those songs so he could keep screaming by the time he got to Timebomb... I loved the Danny mini-sets each night.

Danny Barnes for DMB band member!

I get pumped to see so many people excited for my favorite band... but when it's for all the wrong reasons, and when those people's actions ALL WEEKEND are directly contradicting the message of the music... it's hard to try to fit in and have a good time.

I'm sorry you had such a rough time!! I was in Sec B row 23, and we had to break up a fight between a guy and girl during #41. I guess this girl had made her way into our row ( who cares, really?) and this guy was having none of it. So his way of dealing with the situation was PUNCHING HER?!?! We got the situation under control, got rid of this guy and enjoyed the rest of the show. I hear ya though, I don't understand why people come all the way to the Gorge just to screw around?? This was my first show at the Gorge, and except for this, it was the best experience of my life! Already counting down for next year!!

Oh and PS. . . I really liked Danny's songs!! Side of the Road was awesome, especially when Dave sang "piss on the road"!!

[DL84]

Yeah I agree too. I had to help dissolve a situation with a couple moments before the show even started. this girl was completely trashed before the show and fell over 3 rows of seats during the first couple songs of N1! I was over in C row 40. I also dug Danny B. and unfortunately some of my neighbors thought it'd be cool to bring along a f*ing CLUB with them from Oregon equipped with a karaoke machine playing Nickelback, Eminem, and other shit music until all hours of the night! I mean if your going to blast some music at a DMB show, I figure it'd be along the same lines of Dave like chill music. F*ing Fergie? Jesus that was annoying. You're gonna have douchery pretty much everywhere.

This was my first year and I had a blast overall. Very trial and error but next year... will be better!

[slickrockt]

So I got back to Riverside campsite in Vantage Saturday night, to find that some ASSHOLE ransacked our entire site taking with them my guitar, an ipod, few bottles of booze and some headlamps. This has been my fifth weekend at the Gorge and this one is definitely tainted by the incident. Not sure if I care to go back to be honest.

[DaddyDiesel77]

i had a blast this weekend. i have been in the gorge campground for a few years now and sure its crazy but you also meet some great people. barnes was sweet even with Dave semi making fun of side of the road. But the lawn was great as always no problems during the concert

[Rogue]

Older and more laid back campers in premier campground. We had some great neighbors. Finally. After rowdy neighbors everywhere else lately (Deer Creek was the worst), we really lucked out at The Gorge. I loved Danny Barnes. Surprised more DMB fans didn't enjoy Yonder Mountain String Band...I've seen them together or at festivals together several times.

I walked around several campgrounds and have to say there was a distinctly higher level of douchebaggery in the regular campgrounds than in the premier campground. Worth the extra cash, imo.

[rustysurf83]

Premier is certainly the way to go. We went to visit some friends in the standard campground and there was a very noticeable differences between the types of campers. Everyone around us was respectful all weekend. The only slightly annoying thing was a group directly behind our tent that partied until about 3 a.m. on Sunday, but fuck it. Who cares?

[bustdstuff]

Go to Wild Horse. Good people, good food, and clean Honey Buckets.

[gorgefan36]

I noticed the crowds seemed to be pretty iffy this year too. Most of the real DMB fans I met were over where Marcus Eaton was playing.

There was one girl in front of me on the floor the first night that was so smashed, that when Dave came out to introduce G. Love, she thought Dave WAS G. Love. It was pretty funny, but really sad at the same time... If you're going to fork out $75 for a ticket, I would hope you would at least want to stay sober enough to recognize the guy you paid to see. Maybe that's just me though.

Also had some uber-creepy date-rapist-looking guys by us the second and third nights, brought some girls down to the floor, and essentially groped them all night.. it was disgusting. Didn't see the same girls Sunday night, so hopefully they ditched them after the show. The hair on the back of my neck was literally standing up the entire time.. super creepy.

I also have a friend who stayed in the campground, and one of the girls they were staying with apparently had her drink spiked and left to go home early. Not okay.

So... I guess I agree with OP. The music was great, Band was on, and if you knew where to find them, there were some great DMB fans, but in general, I found most of the crowd to be absolutely ridiculous. I get the appeal of coming out for a weekend to party, but when you're endangering someone else, that's when it crosses the line. Pretty unfortunate.

[YouKnowThatItIS]

Deer Creek. Camp sites near the amphitheatre? Filled with buttheads.

Camp sites two miles away? Fantastic. Perfect combination of having fun and not acting like clowns.

I think most Ants saw the YouTube videos of the fire at Deer Creek. That was in the lots near the venue.

Sounds like it is the same everywhere.

[rustysurf83]

I hope the Gorge changes the way they do premier camping. It was kind of bullshit that they don't open at least some of the gates in the fence. We had to walk nearly a mile to go visit our friends when they I could literally see them over the fence.

[MsEmilyNYC]

Gorge Premiere camping ruled. Great neighbors and great new friends. Well worth the extra $50.

[gorgefan36]

I keep going back and forth every year on whether or not to camp... this year I am SOO glad I didn't (especially with the rain!!), but I have heard a lot of good things about Premiere, might look into it for next summer.. we'll see.

[MsEmilyNYC]

Originally Posted by gorgefan36

I keep going back and forth every year on whether or not to camp... this year I am SOO glad I didn't (especially with the rain!!), but I have heard a lot of good things about Premiere, might look into it for next summer.. we'll see.

Did you drive every night Alex?

[gorgefan36]

Originally Posted by MsEmilyNYC

Did you drive every night Alex?

Sure did! I'm in the Tri-Cities, about an hour south.. super easy drive, and totally worth it to sleep in my own bed every night

[MsEmilyNYC]

Originally Posted by gorgefan36

Sure did! I'm in the Tri-Cities, about an hour south.. super easy drive, and totally worth it to sleep in my own bed every night

I hear that! That's the only drawback to the camping thing, I guess. I didn't sleep all that well in the tent, and then after it rained we slept in the car. I was SO glad to be in my bed last night!

[gorgefan36]

Originally Posted by MsEmilyNYC

I hear that! That's the only drawback to the camping thing, I guess. I didn't sleep all that well in the tent, and then after it rained we slept in the car. I was SO glad to be in my bed last night!

Seems like every summer we think about camping, but never go.... and then something happens, and we're glad we stayed home. A couple years ago, there was a big riot a couple of weeks before when Warped Tour came through, last year it was the wind, and this year it was the rain

[lennoxdude]

Originally Posted by Rogue

Older and more laid back campers in premier campground. We had some great neighbors. Finally. After rowdy neighbors everywhere else lately (Deer Creek was the worst), we really lucked out at The Gorge. I loved Danny Barnes. Surprised more DMB fans didn't enjoy Yonder Mountain String Band...I've seen them together or at festivals together several times.

I walked around several campgrounds and have to say there was a distinctly higher level of douchebaggery in the regular campgrounds than in the premier campground. Worth the extra cash, imo.

Agreed! We've camped at Getty's and regular camping before, and after the last experience with all the douchebags wasn't sure if we would make it back. We got premier camping and it was by far the best time we've had at the Gorge in years! (Been going since '91).

Danny Barnes was fantastic - hopefully those who didn't think so were in regular camping and won't come back next year!

[HoldemHart]

Premier camping is where it's at....

[gorgefan29]

Originally Posted by Prefect

The Gorge shows this year were my 34th, 35th, and 36th shows. Never displeased to see the band... especially the past three years, their energy level and the showmanship has gone WAY up. I loved the new songs (it's been 8 years since I've liked new Dave!)

Here's what sucked. I camped at Getty's Cove in 2007. It was great, surrounded by DAVE FANS, nice people... etc. I got Gorge Camping this year. I've never been surrounded by so many LOUD, inconsiderate, perma-wasted, littering, destructive, NON DAVE FAN FOOLS.

Lemme just relay a couple examples of what I'm talking about. I saw some people chucking glass beer bottles from about 30 feet away at the dumpster near the exit to the venue... my friend who was with me yelled at 'em - "cause broken glass on the ground is cool!" the girl yelled back to her that she was an uptight asshole... and they continued to break bottles. It's a DAVE MATTHEWS BAND SHOW. Have you ever listened to their lyrics? The alpha male got all chest poundey when I flipped his girl off and told her I hope she has to be the one cleaning that stuff up one day.

At the end of the first night, I got back to my car... was sitting and quietly strumming on guitar while my friend and my surrounding campers got to sleep. I had to put up with an endless chain of dudebros walking by, yelling shit at me for playing guitar - making fun of me... then the totally shwasted ones would walk up and basically be loud and annoying til I gave them free beer. (at which point some still wouldn't leave despite my ignoring them) I asked one fella, humoring him, "so how was the show?" He said "I don't remember... didn't really want to come but I got VIP tickets" F*CK YOU BUDDY! I don't even know what VIP entails but this guy didn't even know where he was... or why he was there.

Third story is about the scalpers. My friend and I sold three tickets while we were there. We asked UNDER face for all of them. There were scalpers there combing the lots, buying tickets as "fans" and selling them for $150-250. There were normal dudes too driving the prices up... one of them even told my friend that he'd "take her down" when she refused his $200 ticket. I know scalping is scalping wherever you go... but it was fierce here... and seeing people fork over the money for those tickets... couldn't even feel sorry for them, they weren't being scammed, they were just willingly fueling that whole system.

Where'd the love go? Is it in another campground? There used to be kind people, actual fans... good experiences awaiting a camper at Dave shows. Now it seems to me it's just douches and dudebros who don't know a thing about Dave or what his music means. It kills me. I'm still nice at shows, I still treat it the same way I always have... I am quiet and respectful to my neighbors... I pack up my trash... I know what songs like Dive In are about.

Seriously when I started going to shows there was more granola and less Keystone. Go see Nickelback or whatever act supports your way of life and stay away from music you don't understand. That's my message to the "bros" who've adopted DMB in the past few years.

On the flip side, I did end up camping next to some really great people from British Columbia. The second day, a car full of kids drove into their campsite... I told them it was taken (their tent was still up), but they were like "who cares", so the BC neighbors double parked them in, and forced them to hang out with us til the next morning. Well they didn't hang out, they just called up their friend's little sister and tried to persuade her to bring her underage friends... so they could get them drunk.

This is a really fragmented message, I apologize to anyone who reads it through... I'm still pretty worn out from the whole weekend... no time for formatting.

One more thing - I was SICK of the Danny Barnes hate. I can't even say some of the stuff I heard the douchebros saying... they had no clue. Dave was clearly saving his voice during those songs so he could keep screaming by the time he got to Timebomb... I loved the Danny mini-sets each night.

Danny Barnes for DMB band member!

I get pumped to see so many people excited for my favorite band... but when it's for all the wrong reasons, and when those people's actions ALL WEEKEND are directly contradicting the message of the music... it's hard to try to fit in and have a good time.

Originally Posted by lynda1117

Thank you for voicing my biggest complaint. During the Saturday show, a couple of girls stood behind us and talked nonsense for an entire half hour. My boyfriend turned around and politely asked them to take themselves and their conversation elsewhere. He actually had to explain to them that we had come to enjoy the band and not their moronic conversation. I don't get it. These people travel hundreds of miles, spend hundreds of dollars then get so wasted they ruin it for the rest of us and have no memory of anything.

Originally Posted by slickrockt

So I got back to Riverside campsite in Vantage Saturday night, to find that some ASSHOLE ransacked our entire site taking with them my guitar, an ipod, few bottles of booze and some headlamps. This has been my fifth weekend at the Gorge and this one is definitely tainted by the incident. Not sure if I care to go back to be honest.

Originally Posted by gorgefan36

I keep going back and forth every year on whether or not to camp... this year I am SOO glad I didn't (especially with the rain!!), but I have heard a lot of good things about Premiere, might look into it for next summer.. we'll see.

Wildhorse Campground is the best hands down, they have a douchebag detector, it was safe, clean, fun, chill quiet after 1am, real dave fans, respectful fans and employees, full kitchen with breakfast lunch and dinner menus, great security, no hassles clean bathrooms and showers, Toupstown, just a fabulous experience. I ve camped at Gettys Cove, Vantage and Gorge Campground over the last 7 years and Wildhorse was fantastic. If you want a great experience book Wildhorse early because it does sell out. You will never go back to Gorge Campground.

[Doofie27]

haha yeah, after some of the changes to gorge campground this year, theres nothing stopping me from doing wildhorse from here on out. wildhorse or gorge premier at the very least.

[Prefect]

I wish I had been camping near most of the people replying here!

The people around me yeah... I may have let 'em get me down a bit much at times, but I sure didn't let it ruin the shows.

Next year not gonna leave it to chance, gonna get in a better campground from the start.

Reading some of the stories from the actual shows... I did get lucky with the crowd around me for the most part. I did get some shit for smoking a one-hitter in the seats. But, well... all three of the bands onstage sing about weed so... at least I made sure there weren't children around when I did it.

I agree that there are idiots at every show - someone said Gorge was better, but in my experience it's far worse. I've seen Dave at Riverport, Alpine, Deer Creek, Polaris, Antioch, Sandstone, and MSG... granted, didn't camp at some of those places, but I have to put this year's Gorge behind them all in terms of friendliness & environment.

[DuckFan]

Premier camping was awesome. Great neighbors from SC, NY, MD, NJ. Talked with them all and hung out.
During the wind and rain on Sunday we had 12 people in my camp trailer drinking boxed red wine.

I don't think all of Gorge regular is like the crazytown (Shake Down street) but I think the closer you camped to SDS the crazier the scene.

This was my 7th year and it was no differerent in regular than it was when I camped out there in 2003 or 2004 etc.

Had a blast!!

[27Ravens]

I camped in Premiere and everyone around me was cool, laid back, and so friendly. We had CA, UT, TN, FL, CT, NJ, NV. We wandered about each others campsites, shared food, liquor, laughs. When the wind tried to blow away everything we all helped each other. It was a awesome weekend.

[27Ravens]

I will say though I walked through regular Gorge camping and it was out of control. Alot of young kids who werent real fans and who were taking mass amounts of drugs. Tweakers everywhere. I would have not enjoyed camping there. I got lucky and had cool people around me every night at the show.