This post is slow in coming because I’ve been lethargic, tired and just feeling kind of blah since this weekend.  Now that I am sitting down to write it, and though it pains me greatly to do so, I am publicly accusing an outfit that heretofore has been a positive force in my life: The Dave Matthews Band.  The Dave Matthews Band is responsible for the DMB Caravan, a three day music festival visiting four cities this summer.  This past weekend, June 24-26 was the first of the four at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  I was there, and it took it’s toll.  To understand why, let me tell you a little about me.
Most people don’t see me as an addict, but in fact I am.  It just that the things I am addicted to are not illegal or even controlled, and music is my most powerful addiction by far.  If music is an addiction live music is it’s purest, most potent, addictive form,  and this festival served up something like 40 amazing acts over the course of three days!   The schedule was pretty well planned out with three stages scheduled to have performances on them from around 1:30 pm to 10:00 or 11:00 pm, but staggered so that you usually only had to choose between two acts at any given time.  The tickets were not cheap, just under $200 for three days, but once you were in you had 10 hours at an open bar of music, an addict’s dream!  Someone like me should never have been let in the door!

More than that, this musical bar was packed with top shelf brands.  The variety of musical styles represented was impressive.  If you are a Dave Matthews fan, you wouldn’t have been disappointed.  The band plays each night, there’s a Dave and Tim Reynolds, and solo projects of band members are also featured.  Of course they all sound great.  The members of DMB set standards for musicianship whether you like their music or not.  On the other hand, if you had gone expecting to hear three days of bands that sound like the Dave Matthews Band,  you would have left deeply disappointed.  To cite just a few examples, Mariachi El Bronx are, fundamentally, a Mariachi band cross-pollinated with hard core rock and roll.  The Carolina Chocolate Drops play music that is, at its foundation, pure bluegrass, even if they are covering a Beyonce tune.   Damian Marley, one of Bob Marley’s sons, plays reggae based music as might be expected.  Lisa Hannigan is contemporary singer-songwriter from Ireland in what I suppose we could call the contemporary folk style.  Thievery Corporation play music that incorporates everything but the kitchen sink.  One of the things they all share with the Dave Matthews Band is that they are innovative and not afraid to stretch their wings.  Consequently, none of them are easily classifiable and none of them sound very much like the other.


For the most part, the DMB Caravan was all about music, and I was in ecstasy.  Moreover, because I hadn’t heard about 1/2 the bands, my enjoyment of the music was enhanced by the joy of discovery.  To me that is often the most exciting thing about festivals.  I can’t possibly check out all the new bands I am curious about on my own.  I’ve neither the time nor the funds to find them all online or to see them all when they happen to come through my town.  But at a festival I can hear a song or two and, if I am unimpressed, simply walk away to check out another band, grab a bite to eat, check out a booth or have a beer.  At the DMB Caravan, however, I was unimpressed by no one and didn’t walk away.  If I did leave while a band was playing, it was because I remembered I only a little time to check out another performance elsewhere, and it was hard to walk away from some of them.  Sure, there were some shows I liked more than others, but there was none that I didn’t like.

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As for me, I’m ok now and in spite of the withdrawal really glad I went.  If you can, I strongly encourage you do check it out yourself next week in Chicago.  Just load up on recordings before the concert to listen to on your way home.  It will ease the withdrawal symptoms, you will recover and you will have beautiful memories!
Junkie that I am, I wish I were going.  What a lineup! Emmylou Harris has the voice of–oh I don’t know what to say to avoid insulting her with a tired cliché like angel or goddess.  Plus describing it that way makes it sound to sweet and syrupy when in fact it is rich and beautiful.  In fact, her voice and Dave’s complement each others’ perfectly.

Then there is Bombino.  I follow the music of North Africa, and he has interested me for a while.  The style of playing guitar adopted by the Tuareg guitarists produces some amazing sounds.  Sharon Jones and I have a thing going on since last year at the Newport Folk Festival, I am admitting here for the first time.  Ok, the truth is she doesn’t know me from Adam.  All she did was wave at me from the stage and comment on my hat, but she’s the kind of artist who makes a connection with her audience that can make you feel like you are the only one there.  Then there’s Bobby Long.  I only caught a few songs from his set in Atlantic City, and it definitely made me wish I had gotten there earlier.  Oh, and Amos Lee, David Gray and Michael Franti are all great.  They played Sunday in Atlantic City, so I missed them.  Wish I could catch them in Chicago.   Oh, if you like bluegrass, you’ll love Yonder Mountain String Band, and…..
Oh hell, go to the DMB Caravan in Chicago, July 8-10!  You won’t regret it!  And if you need some company for the drive…
Check out more photos from Atlantic City at the DMB Caravan site.  You’ll also find a link to sample some of the music on iTunes.