|
|
Entry 11 - Kit Kat Jam VOTE
The whole 'event' actually started when I was at this
store called TRIPPING BILLIES. It was the day before
the concert, and DMB was going to be here three
nights! The WAREHOUSE hooked me up big time too! I was
so psyched because they hadn't been to Alpine Valley
RECENTLY, actually in over a year because of the
twins. So as I was saying I was in this store and at
the register I see this black guy that has hair
similar to Boyd's! I continued my shopping for some
amenities for the next few days! This is no ordinary
store either, its got all kinds of earthy stuff in it.
Well when I was walking near the register I noticed
that it was Boyd!!! And actually he was short on money
for what he was picking up, so being the fan I am I
went and put some items back and gave him the
necessary amount. He thanked me and said that to show
his appreciation he would meet me for breakfast in the
morning! I asked if I could bring my girlfriend,
Brittany, and he said that was fine. Incredible, I
just met Boyd Tinsley! On my drive back home I
ran a stop sign almost causing a CRASH and almost
drove off the road I was day dreaming so much about
breakfast with Boyd in the morning!
Brittany and I got up around 8:00 because we had to
meet Boyd at 9:00 for breakfast, at this place called
THE DREAMING TREE. THAT'S WHEN MY DAY STARTS! We walk
in and see the whole band sitting at this table
already, and Boyd said that all the guys wanted to
come! I was thinking to myself, "Man, this is no
TYPICAL SITUATION!" It was difficult even talking to
them all at first but they were so down to earth that
we were flowing in the conversation within 10 minutes.
I thought I was going to be much more nervous, as I
was on the way there. Especially getting like three
hours of sleep the night before. One because I was so
excited, and two....[edited out]
AWW YEAH! So back to the good stuff. We
finished eating around 10:15 and decided to take a
walk over to GREY STREET because it has all these
nifty shops and stands up and down it for a few miles.
Also, Carter said he knew a girl that moved to the
area and heard that she was working at this bar down
on Grey Street. As we were walking down the street
talking we saw some guys DIGGIN A DITCH. Dave felt
like being friendly and decided to stop and talk to
'em, he was just messing around with 'em, and asked
what the heck they were fixing? they told him some
BUSTED STUFF. Well we made it to the bar, which
happened to be called RAPUNZEL with a sign that read
"PANTALA NAGA PAMPA" over the door leading into the
bar. Inside Carter asked the BARTENDER if he knew of a
woman by the name of Grace. He did, but told Carter
that GRACE IS GONE. She moved earlier that year to
Seattle with her husband. So we sat down for a few
drinks but before we ordered 'em Dave told us, DON'T
DRINK THE WATER, and Carter told Brittany and I about
Grace. Apparently he had a CRUSH on her when he was
younger and he lived down the street from her, said,
"she was more beautiful than an ANGEL" That she was so
amazing he had to SLEEP TO DREAM HER. I knew what he
was talking about because I was and still am in love
with a girl like that! IT was incredible, here I am
talking to the Dave Matthews Band and its with my
girl. What more could I want! Well we ended up just
all talking away and decided we would STAY for some
lunch. This place had some weird food. They had PIG,
RAVEN, and some BIG EYED FISH which you had to eat
with a SPOON! We all ordered and they said it would
take a while, so Brittany suggested how cool it would
be for Dave to play some tunes. But we had no guitar,
so he asked and fortunately the bar had one on hand!
So Dave sits on this bar stool on this little
elevated area where the bands play at night! There
weren't too many people in the place at the time, so
it was really intimate and just laved back! He played
some quality tunes like: MINARETS, CRY FREEDOM, SAY
GOODBYE, DREAMS OF OUR FATHERS, SWEET UP AND DOWN,
SATELLITE, CHRISTMAS SONG, HALLOWEEN and finished with
DANCING NANCIES. It was so sweet being chill and all,
and Dave would just stop during the songs sometimes
and start to talking, getting in on the conversation
that Boyd and Carter would be having or Stefan would
say something to Dave. He was so funny up there
talking about his JIMI THING and all. I could not say
a word. I was in awe of it all. Leroi was so funny
because he would just laugh at 'em all! We got our
food like three minutes after Dave finished and this
place was great. You sure do PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET,
because we got a whole bunch of food, and it was well
worth the money. The lunch was on me of course. These
guys had treated me to so many good times this day
already, and to the BEST OF WHAT'S AROUND in the music
business. So now it was their turn to a treat.
Anyways, I had SO MUCH TO SAY to the guys, it was
almost TOO MUCH! Before we left the owner of the bar
wanted to get some pictures, so if you go into that
bar, you will see a picture of the band, the owner,
Brittany, and me! It was time to head back towards the
hotel though because they had to get onto the bus to
head out to Alpine Valley. They told us that we didn't
need to drive, we could just catch a ride with them!
Lemme tell ya, this was no EVERYDAY bus, it was
loaded! We got to Alpine and there were already a
bunch of people tailgating and just having a good time
listening to DMB, OAR, and Marley! I was getting so
pumped just looking at the people already there. I had
just been learning how to play the guitar and once we
got backstage and the guys got some things squared
away , Dave came over with his guitar and taught me
how to play THE STONE, because I love that song! So
Stefan came over and started complaining about not
playing the bass and soon enough Boyd was over just
shooting the breeze with us! The guys told us we could
be backstage during the show if we wanted but we
decided to be down with the crowd creating that
incredible atmosphere, we would come back after the
show. They were our ride home! We hurried down to our
seats because Guster was opening! We got to our seats
like ten minutes before Guster came out, and what an
opening act they were! They played for a little over
an hour, and just blew us away! They played the tunes
demon, so long, mona lisa, window, airport song,
parachute, great escape and rocketship. They also did
a twisted cover of I DID IT!!! amazing set! Dave was
supposed to come out about 8:00 but the guys didn't
come out until like 8:20. That was alright, I had
waited longer before, and it just got the crowd moving
around. When they did walk out though it was
deafening! I could feel my body shaking because of the
crowds noise. I knew it was going to be an amazing
show. After the band walked out, then Timmy and Harper
come walking out too and the crowd went nuts again!
Dave goes "I hope ya'll don't mind me bringing a few
friends over to your house" and yet again everyone
went insane! Well they opened it up with WAREHOUSE
(stop time) which lasted a good eight minutes! Then
Timmy and Harper went off and they played a nice
EVERYDAY/#36 mixing it up. Next was the first of three
longer jams. It was #41! And they brought Bela out for
this 22 minute jam session! It was incredible to say
the least. Next was a BIG EYED FISH tease into CAPTAIN
which was shorted to about 6 minutes. Then another
fine gift, THE LAST STOP (reprise) which set the
roof on fire. This lead into SO RIGHT, and next up was
WHAT YOU ARE. Timmy was out for all three songs, and
Harper for the last two. The crowd's energy was
insane, and the guys were all feeding off of it, with
Dave dancing his butt off. Then we had a strong version
of LIE IN OUR GRAVES, with a nice Boyd part in there.
Next they brought out an older tune, SONG THAT JANE
LIKES, which was a pleasant surprise! After that it
was onto JTR which faded into SEEK UP, which lasted a
good 14 minutes! Then there was a really chilled out
part, but it was incredible. They played a PROUDEST
MONKEY tease that lasted about a minute into SPACE
BETWEEN that faded into MOTHER FATHER with Dave and
Timmy both on acoustic! The next was the song of the
night for me! Dave goes, "So I met some really cool
people today" and he just smiles and winks at us,
"they told me that I should bring this tune back out
tonight, and you know I wouldn't LET YOU DOWN". So I
guess I will, but then I am going to bring an old
friend back out to help me! Shannon Worrell comes
walking out onto the stage and not many people
recognized her, but when he announced her name
everyone went crazy! Even though at least half the
people didn't even know who she was. It was amazing
just Dave and Shannon up there. Then the riff for the
song started, and already the lighters were out! I'LL
BACK YOU UP! It was an experience in itself. The song
lasted the good part of 5 minutes and then Shannon
headed back off. The boys were back out for GREY
STREET and GRACE IS GONE. I was thinking that Grace
was going to be the closer, because it had already
been the most energetic and amazing night. I was
wrong. I thought I heard correctly and I did. It was
PIG! Who was this guy up on stage, God?? Bela was out
for the support on this one, and he ended up staying
out there because they played it right into a 25
minute TWO STEP!!!! My favorite song! I thought for
sure they were off, and back for maybe a two song
encore. But we had one more song! BILLIES, with Harper
back out there and Boyd almost broke a string on his 3
minute solo, with the song lasting about 7 minutes!
When the song was over the guys got a cheer louder
then anything I have ever heard! They went off and
made us wait a good 15 minutes before they came back
on. Some people were thinking that they weren't even
going to come back out because they had played the
most amazing set already and were probably too tired.
But they got out there and opened it up with a #40
tease and while they were doing this Shannon came back
out and they played ELEANOR! madness, total madness
for me! Not too many people knew it but it was sweet.
And the crowd you could tell enjoyed it! Timmy
made his way out to the stage and the final song was
ANTS! Boyd once again tore it up. While they were
playing I was thinking to myself how in the world can
they top this or even come close to it the next two
nights?? Oh well, anyways it was already the most
amazing show ever! But there was one more surprise to
come! They went off and people were just standing
there screaming as loud as they could at this point
and chanting DAVE, DAVE, DAVE... Well we got what we
wanted.. A TRUE, PURE ENCORE!!! It was going to rain,
you could feel it in the air! It was the most
astounding thing ever. They played a #34 with words!
And worked that into MONKEY MAN! Then Stefan started
his bass line solo, and we all knew it was WATCHTOWER!
As Stefan was doing his thing, Harper and Timmy came
back out to close the show like they had began! It was
about a 12 minute watchtower with hardcore jamming for
the last 7 minutes! THE SHOW WAS THE CREAM! I could
have never asked for anything better! I had the
greatest band ever, that played the greatest set ever,
after the greatest day ever, with the greatest girl
ever!! People started clearing out because it was
around 11:45 and they wanted to clear out before the
storm hit. Well Brittany and I headed back stage and
just told them that it was the most incredible event
ever witnessed and thanked them at least 20 times.
Then we got a few more pictures with the band and some
with the guys and Guster, Harper, Timmy, Bela, and
Shannon! It was time to get on the bus so we could be
dropped off at our car back at the restaurant.
When we were all on the bus, Carter gave us his
drumstick that he broke at the end of two step, and
Dave did the coolest thing! He gave me the guitar that
he played I'll Back You Up on and signed it: "Dave
Matthews~ I'll Back You Up" and then I went and got
autographs then from the rest of the folks! Of course
Dave got his hug from Brittany. It was DAVE
MATTHEWS, how could I even care! When we
got back the our car we thanked them once again and
headed on our way. We could tell they were tired, but hey, they put on the
most amazing show at Dave's favorite place to play!
I can't even imagine how the next two nights held up
against the first, well they really didn't. But they
were still awesome! IT WAS DMB, HOW COULD THEY NOT.
What more can I say??? If it were to all fade away
tomorrow WHEN THE WORLD ENDS I could die a happy man,
just saying, "This is ONE SWEET WORLD we live in!"
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?
VOTE
[1] [2] [3] [4]
[5] [6] [7] [8]
[9] [10] [11] [12]
[13] [14]
|
