Concert Memory: Dave Matthews Band - June 23, 2018

There is nothing more rewarding than watching your child have the same reaction to their first experience of a particular band live that you did many years earlier. I was blessed and thankful to be able to share that interaction with my daughter, which happened on a gorgeous Saturday night in Hartford, Connecticut. The band was Dave Matthews Band and we made a three-hour journey to see them in concert. It was her first time and my 20^th. So, while I knew what to expect and the grand time we were going to have, she had no clue the joyous occasion that would unfold before her.   

Standing in the pit watching the instruments be tuned and set left me with a lot of exciting anticipation. Was my daughter going to love this band as much as I did? Was she going to be enthralled to the point where they became one of her favorite bands as they had for me years earlier? Would she leave with the same feelings of euphoria that I had?   

Sure, I had concerns going into the show. Boyd Tinsley was out and DMB had decided to tour with no violin for the first time since I’ve been seeing them live (maybe for the first time ever). I didn’t know if the essence was going to be the same as I had grown accustomed to. We had pit tickets, so that was certainly going to help improve the vantage point, but I love Boyd Tinsley and knowing that he wasn’t going to be on stage hurt a little. 

My big issue with the new incarnation of Dave Matthews Band (version 3.0 if you will) was that the setlists did not vary much for this trek across the US. The same songs were being played multiple times, which is unlike a normal DMB tour. Part of that could be because new addition organist Buddy Strong was still getting up to speed on the entire DMB catalog, but part of that could be for a different reason (although a reason that I can’t quite figure out). They stayed with the same group of songs for most of the tour. Although, we did get three tour debuts (“Stay or Leave,” “Captain,” and “Black and Blue Bird”) but everything was standard, especially the encore.

There’s a certain amount of magic in the air anytime the Dave Matthews Band takes the stage. Even in the absence of Boyd Tinsley on the violin, I knew this was going to be another special night. The weather was in our favor, the crowd was large but peaceful and loving, and of course the music was going to be magnificent. Standing that close to the stage also added to the experience. I had not been in the pit for a DMB show since my trip to The Gorge. That experience had not been the best, so there were concerns going into this show, but when the opportunity to get pit tickets came up for my daughter’s first experience, I had to grab them. Standing there as the pit filled and the clock ticked closer to showtime, I was a little nervous. Thankfully, we had a grand pit experience this time around. Maybe it’s because we stood by the horns---who can say for sure? All I know is that this was a much more relaxed experience than my last one. And for that I am eternally gratefully.

I was able to guess the opening song, but I don’t take great pride in that, as the setlists were predictable. That is something I’ve never been able to say about a DMB tour before, but it’s true for 2018. There were only three songs they opened with for most of that leg and one of them was the opener the night before, so I had a pretty good feeling that “That Girl Is You” was going to kick off our night. Fortunately, it is a favorite from the new release for both my daughter and myself.

All these items did not make it a bad show. I don’t believe that I’ve ever witnessed a bad DMB show and judging by my daughter’s gleeful outbursts it was the best concert ever performed in the history of music. Yet, perhaps since I’ve been to 20 of these shows now, I’ve grown jaded and hopeful. There are always songs I am chasing (“The Last Stop” in particular) and songs that I want to hear that I’ve only heard once (“Lover Lay Down”), but the band has so many songs they could pull out and they are touring behind a new record. I understand that the new songs are going to take precedence. And they have to balance deep cuts with fan favorites. I get all of that. And look, when it comes to a DMB show, their setlist is a million times more varied than a KISS show. But I think I’ve raised my expectations because the band raised the bar the first time I saw them in concert. I’m like a junkie. I want every concert to be as tremendous as that first one was. I’m chasing the high.

Prior to the show, I even had a list of songs in my head that I wanted to hear. I know it was a stretch for several reasons, but I want to hear the songs I don’t hear live too often. Which may be part of my problem. I need to enjoy the show for the show and if the rare songs are played, consider that a blessing. I was hoping to hear any of the following: “#27,” “Say Goodbye,” “Break Free,” “Come On, Come On,” or “Minarets.” I thought I had the best chance with “Come On, Come On” because it was a new song. The others I knew were a longshot at best. Sadly, none of those songs were performed, but I should have expected that anyway.

Out of the songs that did get played, there were some real highlights for me. I was overjoyed to hear “Crush” and “Jimi Thing” (two of my favorite songs by this band.) I was also glad to get “Stand Up” and “Louisiana Bayou” which is an unpopular statement with most purists. However, these two songs hold a special place in my heart as they were the songs that locked me into being a fan for life the first time I saw the band live. Robert Randolph guested on Bayou the first night I saw DMB and that just blew my mind. So, I will always love most of the songs from the Stand Up album.  They will always remind me of when DMB moved into the top five of my all-time favorite bands.  

The best part about being in the pit was the opportunity to get a drumstick from Carter Beauford. I’ve had opportunities to get a drumstick before and I’ve come extremely close once, at that same venue. The stick went off my fingertips and flipped behind me. SO CLOSE! With that in mind, I told my daughter that if she got a stick from Carter it was mine. I had come too close to let her get one on her first night. Unfortunately, Carter did not take the usual time to toss sticks into the audience. Not at the end of the main set and not after the encore. What the heck, Carter? I had informed my daughter what a big part of the show experience it was going to be and you tossed nothing! What a let down!  

As for my daughter, I had never seen her so happy in her entire life. The joy that overwhelmed her with infectious. She was so enthralled and she could not stop talking about what an amazing time she was having. She told me repeatedly that she had no idea the band was this good in concert. That made me made me laugh. I had only been telling for the last ten years she should think about attending a show with me. In her wise wisdom though she pointed out that she may not have been mature enough in her musical tastes to enjoy the band until now. Out of the mouths of babes… I was ecstatic by her happiness and so glad that we had gotten to see this show together. And now I have a permanent partner to attend all future shows with. She’s already told me that she can’t wait to see the band again and asked if we can do multiple shows next time. As long as they tour in 2019, my dear daughter, yes, we can.  

SETLIST

That Girl Is You

One Sweet World

Granny

Crush

Samarai Cop

Stay Or Leave

What Would You Say

Can’t Stop

Jimi Thing

Captain

Warehouse

Black and Blue Bird

The Song That jane Likes

Lying in the Hands of God

Funny The Way It Is

Come Tomorrow

Stand Up

Louisiana Bayou

ENCORE
The Space Between

Tripping Billies

Friday's Rockin' Roundup - A Lot Going On Edition

Holy Hannah, there was a lot going on in the world of music this past week! There was also a lot going on in my personal life too. Some good, some bad, and some just too much work! It happens. I have a very demanding day job and I try to keep up with this blog and my newly launched KISS podcast, while still making time for reading, movies, games, family, and friends. Sometimes I need to remind myself that I should slow down and enjoy life for whatever it is handing me at that moment.

I’m really not complaining. I like to be busy and I like to get things done. I just tend to overcommit sometimes. And then there are times when everything happens all at once. Like new releases, tickets to concerts that I really want to see, and huge breaking news from some of my favorite bands. And that’s what I experienced this past week, which has led me to my first Friday’s Rockin’ Roundup for 2018.

So, while I was playing catch up in the world of all things Ryo Vie likes (and work), here’s what rocked this week!

Boyd Tinsley Is Taking A Break

Just hours after tickets went on sale for their upcoming summer tour, and a day before the band’s first concert in quite some time, Boyd Tinsley announced that he was “taking a break” from the Dave Mathews Band to focus on his family and health for a while. This news shocked the DMB fan community and caused one of the most popular fan sites to overload and shut down due to high traffic volume. The responses to this announcement are mixed. While some fans are really upset that this announcement did not come prior to the tickets going on sale, others are just sad and hope that everything is okay with their favorite fiddle player. I fall into both camps. On the one hand, I do hope that Boyd is okay and that the health issues are not serious. On the other hand, I wish I would have known this prior to buying tickets because it may have changed my decision about going or at least about how much to spend on tickets. As it is, I am going to two shows this summer. I just know they aren’t going to be the same without Boyd. It’s going to be odd and somber at times.

Poison Announces A Summer Tour

I’ll admit that with all that’s been going on lately, this announcement totally caught me by surprise. But thankfully, in a good way! I had no idea that Poison was gearing up to hit the road this summer. And taking Cheap Trick and Pop Evil out with them is quite a bonus. Long time readers know how much I love Pop Evil and Poison, so this is practically a must see show for me. The problem is I have DMB tickets for the night that Poison is in my home state. Now I am frantically scrambling to see what other nearby shows there are that will fit my schedule. Ugh! The problems of a die-hard music fan!

Gaslight Anthem Reunion Dates Announced

After a long hiatus, The Gaslight Anthem is finally getting back together! They plan to tour in honor of the anniversary of The 59 Sound, their breakout album that most (if not all) Gaslight fans adore. Tickets for all the announced North America shows have sold out, so I am hopeful that the band will add more dates. They currently do not have any shows scheduled for their home state of New Jersey and I can’t see them doing this tour without a show or two in The Garden State. Thus, like most fans, I will wait and see if future shows are added and if they include a stop in Jersey. If they do, expect me to be there!

Pearl JamTickets Going On Sale Soon

Pearl Jam announced some stadium shows for this summer. Tickets go on sale soon, however, if you were one of the lucky ones to become a “verified” fan, then you will have the opportunity to buy tickets next Friday, February 16^th. If there are any tickets left after that (doubtful), the general on sale will be February 21^st at 10:00 AM. Unfortunately, the closest show to me is almost 6 hours away, so I did not try to get “verified.” I still have some issues with the whole verification through Ticketmaster process anyway, but that’s a topic for another time. I may or may not try to get general tickets for Fenway in Boston, but I’m real hopeful that PJ will add some dates to the NYC area. MetLife stadium is a great place to hold a concert in the summer!

Brian Fallon’s Solo Album Is Out Today

Not to be outdone by his band that’s been on hiatus and is now returning with a boom, Brian Fallon will release a new solo album today. Sleepwalkers is the second solo album from Fallon and every song that I have heard from this record is magnificent. I can’t even begin to describe how talented Brian Fallon is or how much I love his music. It is filled with such passion that it just overwhelms me (in a very good way). There was a great article posted on the independent that talks about his new record, The Gaslight Anthem, and much more. It’s definitely worth reading, especially if you are a fan!

The Latest Episode of The Psycho Circus Podcast Is Up

I’ll wrap up this edition of Friday’s Rockin’ Roundup with a shameless self-promoting plug. The latest episode of my Podcast The Psycho Circus Podcast is up. It’s also available on iTunes and Tune-In. This episode covers my favorite KISS album of all time, Destroyer, so I really hope that it gets a lot of listens. And if you like what you hear, think about subscribing. My plan is to post a new episode every week until I collapse from over-commitment!

Platinum Tickets: Yet Another Way Ticketmaster Can Screw You Over

This week, the opportunity to purchase tickets for upcoming Dave Matthews Band concerts via the Citi Card members presale happened. I’ve known this was coming for a while as my senses have been in hyperdrive from the moment the band announced that they would be touring this summer and releasing a new album. Happy days indeed!

So, on the morning of the Citi Presale I was sitting in front of my computer at 10:00 AM, with my presale code in hand, ready to go. At 9:58 AM I got to the site and navigated my way to the page I needed (Hartford presale) and at precisely 10:00 AM I jumped in. I entered my presale code and waited to see which seats would come up for me.

And then magically --- nothing! There were no seats available. The only “seats” I could purchase through the presale were lawn seats. What the hell? Lawn shouldn’t even be considered in the presale as far as I’m concerned, but that’s a post for a different day. What I really wanted to know was what had happened to all the presale tickets. Where were the great seats that I should have been able to get because I was a card-carrying member of Citi?

I refreshed and tried again and still got nothing. I refreshed and tried again and still only lawn would come up for purchase. What was going on? This terrible method of lather, rinse, repeat went on for about seven more minutes before I finally stopped myself. It looked like I was not going to get any presale tickets so I marked my calendar for the general on sale date/time and hoped for the best.

Yet something was gnawing at me and wouldn’t let go. Thus, I decided to give it one more shot. I logged back into the Ticketmaster site and searched for presale tickets again and something extremely odd happened. Tickets appeared! But they weren’t priced at the $85 - $115 dollars I had expected. They were priced at $220. What? And they weren’t even good seats for $220, they were in one of the last rows of the venue. How on Earth did my $115 tickets become $220. Welcome to Ticketmaster’s latest scam --- Platinum Tickets.  

When did section 600 become one of the best seats in the house?

If you aren’t familiar with what platinum tickets are I say, first and foremost, good for you. You haven’t had to deal with the pain and aggravation of learning how a huge corporation is looking to stick it to the people that it does business with once again. Regardless of whether you are familiar with this process, or you’re curious and want to learn more, please read on.

What The Heck Are Platinum Seats?

Yes, this was my introduction to platinum seats, and although they’ve been around for over a year, I’ve never had an encounter with them until now. According to Ticketmaster’s site (https://www.ticketmaster.com/h/platinum/buyerfaq.html): Official Platinum seats are premium tickets to concerts and other events, made available by artists and event providers through Ticketmaster. They give fans fair and safe access to some of the best seats in the house.  

Look at how misleading that statement is! Fair and safe access to some of the best seats in the house? What constitutes fair and safe access? Because the tickets are being sold through Ticketmaster and not Stub Hub or some other online third-party reseller? I’ve never had any safety issues with any ticket site that I’ve purchased tickets from. Frustration maybe (and that’s mostly from Ticketmaster themselves) but never safety issues. Is my computer going to shut down in the middle of a purchase and my credit card information will be stolen from a non-Ticketmaster site?

The statement also proclaims that fans will have access to some of the best seats in the house. This statement is partially true yet very misguided. First, it’s not only the best seats in the house. As I mentioned, for the Dave Matthews Band concert in Hartford, there were only seats available in the last row for a hefty fee (more than twice the announced price of the ticket). My curiosity led me to check other shows for that tour and there were seats available in the first sections of the venue. Not in the first few rows, but still what I would call exceptional seats. The price tag on those? Between $550 - $1,500 dollars. So, while fans may get access to some of the best seats in the house, they will pay a week’s salary for those seats. No different than if they purchased them through an online scalper site.

Why Do Platinum Seats Exist?

Platinum seats are just another combative measure by Ticketmaster against the online scalpers. For years fans have been going to sites like Stub Hub and paying a premium price for some of the best tickets. None of that money went back to Ticketmaster or the artists, so Ticketmaster is coming up with different ways to combat scalpers and pocket the profit. And rather than work hard with a think tank team of how to beat the scalpers (sorry, but verified fan is just a bust) this corporation figured the best way to beat the scalpers is to become scalpers themselves.

Platinum seats do not come with any extra rewards. There are no meet and greets involved. There are no invites to soundcheck with these seats. They are just regular seats at an extremely ridiculous price. Essentially what happens is Ticketmaster picks random seats throughout the venue, holds them back from general on sale and offers them to fans at a substantial increase. I am not even sure how this practice is legal, but that’s a question for another day and another post.

Ticketmaster saw an opportunity to make more money and ran with it. You can’t totally blame them for this (that is capitalism after all) but with their history of being a putrid company, this latest move is not sitting well with fans. People just want a fair opportunity to purchase tickets at the price the artist lists them for and not see those tickets be sold for three, four, or even five times more than the price originally quoted. Scalpers take away that opportunity and now Ticketmaster has become their own scalper.

What Does This Mean For The Future Of Concert Tickets?

There was a lot of discussion about this tactic in the forums of a popular Dave Matthews Band fan site (AntsMarching.org). And there was mixed reception to the practice. Some fans thought this was a good thing as a portion of the extra money was going to the band. Others thought it was terrible and that Ticketmaster had just found a new way to rip off fans. I tend to lean toward the latter. I think a corporation holding back a product that only it has access to, creating a fake demand, and then selling it for an astronomical price is just disgusting. Again, if they would focus on a better way to not let scalpers manipulate their infrastructure, this problem would become more manageable.

As it is, once someone (or some corporation) gets a taste of what fans will pay (higher prices) the practice will only expand and not go away. I think that for larger acts (Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift, Elton John, etc.) this practice is going to become the norm. And that means that as a fan, there will be even less opportunity to purchase a ticket at the stated price set by the artist. And at some point, it may lead to a backlash or a drop in ticket sales.

This week, in addition to DMB, U2 presale tickets went on sale for Madison Square Garden. And while they weren’t “platinum” seats, U2 wanted between $175 - $250 for tickets (some in bad locations). I love me some U2, but I am NOT paying that much to see them. And thus, I have decided that U2 and I are done. Sure, I will miss their concerts, but I can’t justify the cost of seeing them live – especially when you add on the cost of getting to the event. And my point is that if platinum seats continue to happen I will be priced out of more and more shows. And it’s not just me. I know that I am not the only concert fan on a budget. If there are people out there who want to forego their groceries for the week to attend a concert they really want to see, I say God Bless Them. And I mean it. But I like to eat. And I have alternative plans.

As ticket costs continue to rise with ideas like platinum seats, the bigger band concerts that I attend are just going to be less and less. I didn’t do Springsteen on Broadway. I didn’t do Bon Jovi. I’m not doing U2. And given the way this Dave Matthews Band ticketing is going, this may be the last time I see them as well. This is great news for clubs like The Starland Ballroom, The Bergen PAC, and The Wellmont Theatre. Because I will start attending more shows there, seeing affordable acts. That is, until they decide they want to sell platinum seats too. Then I guess it’s video only for me!