DMB Caravan

I'm so stoked Quinn got to visit again before my service year is up. I tell enough stories about the kid, most of my roommates think they really know him.

PLUS, the draw for him to come was none other than Mr. Dave Matthews and his find Band, aka classic Summer in the City.

DMB did a three day festival here this past weekend, and by here I mean an hour south of here, at Lakeside. Still Chicago, though. (It never ceases to amaze me how geographically large cities can be.) The festival featured a butt load of bands each day, and DMB headlined each night. Quinn and I only went to yesterday's set, but we're convinced it was the best.

We took the beloved CTA all the way down to 87th and made our way to Lakeside...literally it's right on the lake, which turned out to be a blessing since without that breeze, it would have been nasty hot. We checked out TR3, Tim Reynolds' band, DumpstaPhunk, Dave and Tim doing an acoustic set, Ben Folds, Kid Cudi, and the ever-amazing Dave Matthews Band.

The location was ideal--a huge area of land, big enough to fit three stages, a Ferris wheel, strings of food and drink booths, merch tents, a water mist tent and several free hydration stations (water fountains to fill up bottles), plus all the people. When it got to be Dave time, there were considerably more people than earlier in the day (gates opened at 1 pm) and luckily we had pretty good standing spots. We could definitely see the band on the screens and as long as I stood to the side of the guy in front of me, I could see the actual band as well.

Dave has been touring for 20 years now, so he's got these things pretty much down to a science. Play a classic, audience erupts in applause and sings along, go into sweet improv section featuring the entire band, finish to more cheers, say thank you and get ready for the next song. He didn't talk much between songs besides to thank everyone for coming out and supporting the Caravan, or to give props to Kid Cudi for a great show, but they kept the music coming for over two hours.

According to today's newspaper write up on the show, upwards of 100,000 people attended over the course of the three-day Caravan and Dave never repeated a song. That's a true blue musician for you.