I would love to talk about Central Park

[Lcsulla]

Originally Posted by crashintonickdm

its gotta be a show from winter 1998. Roi, Tim and Butch. no jeff, no rashawn, no stand up, no big whiskey, no everyday, no blackjack, no cornbread, no eh hee, and only big 3 songs. top of their performing career.

I will take June 1997 over winter 1998 personally. Very similar reasons but they sounded a little fresher and edgy, not to mention you could still bribe a security dude with 20 bucks to take you down to empty seats in the first few rows.

This question could be batted around forever among all fans and no one would ever reach a conclusion. I realize it is missing some later tunes but the set at 11-17-92 is simply amazing. May have been the first DMB cassette I received so perhaps I am biased a tad.

[crashintonickdm]

Originally Posted by Lcsulla

I will take June 1997 over winter 1998 personally. Very similar reasons but they sounded a little fresher and edgy, not to mention you could still bribe a security dude with 20 bucks to take you down to empty seats in the first few rows.

This question could be batted around forever among all fans and no one would ever reach a conclusion. I realize it is missing some later tunes but the set at 11-17-92 is simply amazing. May have been the first DMB cassette I received so perhaps I am biased a tad.

i think youll get a majority to agree with me that its something winter 1998.

1997 is very strong too. as is 2000.

[Lcsulla]

Originally Posted by crashintonickdm

i think youll get a majority to agree with me that its something winter 1998.

1997 is very strong too. as is 2000.

You are probably right. I would vnture a guess that part of that is because the band released some shows, the aud tapes we have are for the most part better in 1998, and it was a short winter tour with guests. Worth remembering is that the majority of people voting were not present at either of those tours by this point so it is based on setlists and tapes. Probably helps your case that 1998 was undoubtedly a turning point for the band in general. I will take 1997 personally because the tickets were far easier to get, the crowds were better, and no one had ever conceived them sharing the stage with some shreiking fatties ensuring certain songs for 3-4 tours.

[CGTP13]

Originally Posted by crashintonickdm

12/3/98

or

12/7/98

its gotta be a show from winter 1998. Roi, Tim and Butch. no jeff, no rashawn, no stand up, no big whiskey, no everyday, no blackjack, no cornbread, no eh hee, and only big 3 songs. top of their performing career.

Why not from 2000? Big 3 plus tLWs songs and still no ED, SU, etc.

Edit: I suppose you answered that above.

[tyler3440]

Don't really know where to put this

Has anyone seen any news coverage from this show on the web? I mean from a news tv station not an internet article.

I wish I could find some from this historical show

[dmbetc]

DMB released HD versions of all Central Park songs on their YouTube today. (Appears Cortez isn’t there though)

[Whiteyxc514]

Originally Posted by dmbetc

DMB released HD versions of all Central Park songs on their YouTube today. (Appears Cortez isn’t there though)

Very interesting that they have done this with both CP and Listener Supported in the past couple weeks.

[Dave&Tim41]

I'd love to see both come to Blu Ray/4k.

[Cscottrun]

Originally Posted by dmbetc

DMB released HD versions of all Central Park songs on their YouTube today. (Appears Cortez isn’t there though)

This looks great. Wow. How do they get it over to HD? I always thought it wasn't filmed in HD.

[Holemandaddy]

Central Park was great. I remember AOL or some other service was streaming it which was a big deal back then. My only wish was that the CP show was the only show that year to do the SMTS->ASTB->Too Much. By itself, it was a tour rarity, but all of the other live recordings up until that point had that same transition. I wish they had done one of the more unique transitions that they played with that year.

[eddyg32]

Still think that's their best sounding live release. All of them are completely locked in on every single song. Also I absolutely love Butch's solo on Two Step.

[cgo34364041]

spent most of the day in line to get in... joined the line at one of the entrances to central park (cant remember the exact st) around 4pm... and didnt get into the show until warehouse was finishing... but it was a great night and im thankful for at least being able to have been part of the 90,000+ that were there. 2003 was a great year for dmb fans.. i caught D&T shows, dmb shows, and dave and friends that year...

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by eddyg32

Still think that's their best sounding live release. All of them are completely locked in on every single song. Also I absolutely love Butch's solo on Two Step.

Yeah I really love Butch's solo here, and how Carter keeps the groove throughout so you can keep dancing or tapping your feet.

I love listening to Two Steps from 2003, the tape of 09.03.03 is a really good one and I highly recommend that one for a great Butch solo too.

[BigBadBigDon33]

Still to this day my favorite live performance of there's. Will never get old.

[BringBackButchT]

Originally Posted by crashintonickdm

I've got a buddy who claims someone in the band hated the whole experience. Is there anything true about that?

This is an old post, but I do remember an interview with Stefan where he wasn't super thrilled with it. Not hating it, but mentioned it was impossible to see the crowd and of course with in-ears couldn't hear much of them either.

He's also talked about the switch to in ears and big stages in general being difficult for him as a bassist -- lots of bassists have issues with in-ears in general because they're not great at reproducing low end the way you hear it/feel it in a smaller room. So it may have been part of a larger pattern of trying to get his setup dialed in.

[bullet78]

Similar to the OP 6 years ago, we used to pop in the Central Park DVD (like 8-10 years ago had a big run with it) and watch it all the time. We wore that DVD out.

I lived in NYC at the time of the show and planned on going. I was even in the line, or lines, at Central Park with my girlfriend, late that afternoon and into early evening. The lines were long, I was tired, and was working around the clock back then. I threw in the towel, got out of line and went home. Not one of my prouder moments as a DMB fan. At least got to sort of live the concert via the DVD release later on.

Remember being most moved by Cortez, Watchtower and Crush, but it was obviously all good.

[dpduke5173]

Awesome watching in HD on YT now!

[coldengrey12]

Twenty years since the performance tomorrow

[Mountains#41]

Originally Posted by coldengrey12

Twenty years since the performance tomorrow

And yet another missed opportunity for a vinyl anniversary release.

[dobyblue]

And another missed opportunity for a Blu-ray. The DVD looks like crap now, it looked great on my 27" 480i CRT when it first came out! lol

I have the 2 DVDs backed up to a single MKV file on my PC so I can stream to the HT room when I have the itch to hear the breakdown in Two Step for example, but it's hard to watch on a 77" OLED given how almost completely devoid of fine detail it has. The Dave and Tim Blu-ray, even on a large 4K panel, still looks fantastic. If they had done a new Blu-ray of CP to celebrate the 20th anniversary, complete with a brand new Dolby Atmos mix by John Alagia, I would have figuratively wet my pants.

[Mountains#41]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

And another missed opportunity for a Blu-ray. The DVD looks like crap now, it looked great on my 27" 480i CRT when it first came out! lol

I have the 2 DVDs backed up to a single MKV file on my PC so I can stream to the HT room when I have the itch to hear the breakdown in Two Step for example, but it's hard to watch on a 77" OLED given how almost completely devoid of fine detail it has. The Dave and Tim Blu-ray, even on a large 4K panel, still looks fantastic. If they had done a new Blu-ray of CP to celebrate the 20th anniversary, complete with a brand new Dolby Atmos mix by John Alagia, I would have figuratively wet my pants.

It sure does! Looks as bad as VHS did back in early 2000's. The official dmb youtube playlist of it isn't all that great or ideal for watching it's entirety either. It's good for watching one song.

[KevinTH]

Originally Posted by cgo34364041

spent most of the day in line to get in... joined the line at one of the entrances to central park (cant remember the exact st) around 4pm... and didnt get into the show until warehouse was finishing... but it was a great night and im thankful for at least being able to have been part of the 90,000+ that were there. 2003 was a great year for dmb fans.. i caught D&T shows, dmb shows, and dave and friends that year...

Wow this experience is nearly identical to mine down to the song. I wish I pushed my friends more, but they hadn’t been to NYC and we were only there for two nights. We didn’t end up getting in line until 3-4 and walked into the park the moment Roi went into the salsa jam in Warehouse. We made the best of being in line, in fact we had a blast for the most part, but it certainly got more stressful as I realized we were missing quite a bit.

Think I made the trip with like $75 in my pocket. Glad to have been a part of the crowd and say “I was there!”, but we were very far away. We did make it pretty close to the stage during the encore.

I remember the night before walking around the city at night and meeting other Dave fans. The excitement was through the roof. “I heard Tim Reynolds, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Alanis Morrisette, Phish, and a ton of other guests are all going to be there!!! I heard they’re playing for 3 1/3 full hours with all sorts of guests and songs like Last Stop AND songs from Dave’s solo album!!!” Not quite the set or show people hyped haha, but an amazing show none the less, and a career high for the band. Can’t believe it’s been 20 years.

[Mountains#41]

Originally Posted by KevinTH

Wow this experience is nearly identical to mine down to the song. I wish I pushed my friends more, but they hadn’t been to NYC and we were only there for two nights. We didn’t end up getting in line until 3-4 and walked into the park the moment Roi went into the salsa jam in Warehouse. We made the best of being in line, in fact we had a blast for the most part, but it certainly got more stressful as I realized we were missing quite a bit.

Think I made the trip with like $75 in my pocket. Glad to have been a part of the crowd and say “I was there!”, but we were very far away. We did make it pretty close to the stage during the encore.

I remember the night before walking around the city at night and meeting other Dave fans. The excitement was through the roof. “I heard Tim Reynolds, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Alanis Morrisette, Phish, and a ton of other guests are all going to be there!!! I heard they’re playing for 3 1/3 full hours with all sorts of guests and songs like Last Stop AND songs from Dave’s solo album!!!” Not quite the set or show people hyped haha, but an amazing show none the less, and a career high for the band. Can’t believe it’s been 20 years.

For DMB is this THE Pinnacle event of their career? Of course there are better overall shows, better overall weekends, Red Rocks, Gorge, SPAC, Alpine etc..

This one show seems to have stood the test of time as the show that defined DMB at the height of their success. It was a big deal in the music world at the time. It seems like they took a step down after this and have not really reached this level of success again. 2004 was a big year tour wise, and the recreated this vibe in San Francisco Golden Gate park, but it wasn't the national level of excitement that CP was.

Had they not gone the Stand Up direction in 2005, things might be different. But I think they lost a lot of fans once that came out.

Then of course they almost broke up in 06/07.
I'd say Red Rocks 95 is still a show/release that a ton of people would know more than this from long time fans and very casual, but that was recorded on the way up. Crash hadn't even released when this show was performed.

[hopewelljones]

Yeah if someone asked me to encapsulate DMB, I would just play them Central Park.

[aeroshady]

I was there 20 years ago. Amaizing night to cap off one of my top 2 favorite tours for DMB. Would love them to re-release CP at the 25th Anniversary. I remember my friend and I paid $75 to a scalper to get free tickets . Worth it.

[kmb40oz]

We set out on our trip the night before, staying at a friend's place on Staten Island. The next morning, we hopped on the ferry to New York City and headed to Central Park. After grabbing breakfast, we got in line at the 79th Street entrance and waited all day.

While we waited, we used the Metropolitan Museum of Art for bathroom breaks and some rest. Meanwhile, our friends held our spots in line.

When they finally opened the gates, I remember the rush of excitement as we sprinted down the Great Lawn to grab the front-row spot we'd been dreaming of. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience, the peak of my time as a fan of the Dave Matthews Band.

[Kevtalia]

If someone asked me "what album can I buy that gives me the best overall experience of DMB" I would without hesitation say:

Central Park
Red Rocks 95

Can't say really anything negative about either.

[Mountains#41]

Originally Posted by Kevtalia

If someone asked me "what album can I buy that gives me the best overall experience of DMB" I would without hesitation say:

Central Park
Red Rocks 95

Can't say really anything negative about either.

I'd include Listener Supported in there for the trifecta.

Those 3 showcase the band at 3 very distinct periods in their career and if you can't get into one of those 3 shows, you're just not ever going to be a DMB fan.

[Mountains#41]

Love these stories!

Got to visit NYC this year, and def spent some time in Central Park. I was thinking how amazing it must have been to see the band in that space. I'm sure it was a huge hassle, and don't think bands have been playing there much recently, but I'm surprised DMB hasn't been done it again in all these years.