DMB in Chapaign, IL 11/30/2005

My friend Jess and I went to another DMB concert!! This time it was at the Assembly Hall in Champaign, IL. It is about a 3 hour drive from here so they let us off work early so that we could make it there on time.
It was a great concert, but the venue was a little lame. They didn't serve beer there which totally caught us off-guard. The fans were not the best either. I think most of them had never even listened to a DMB song before. Oh well. The band played great depite the crowd.
It was a really good set list and I was really happy to hear "Christmas Song" live!!! I didn't think they would play that song. It was a nice encore!
Unfortunately that was the last concert of the year for me. I will be back in Champaing on February 12th to see O.A.R.!!

Wednesday Nov 30 2005
University of Illinois - Assembly Hall

What Would You Say
#41
Grey Street
Seek Up
Stand Up
Hunger For The Great Light
When The World Ends
American Baby Intro
Dream Girl
Too Much
Jimi Thing
Smooth Rider
Crash
Stay
__________________
Christmas Song
Ants Marching

O.A.R. in St. Louis!!!!

I finally have a chance to talk about the O.A.R. concert that I went to in St Louis on the 10th of November!! It was awesome!! It has to be one of the top 5 best concerts that I have been to. They played at the Fox in St Louis instead of the Pageant this time around! hopefully they will continue to go to the Fox. The band was great, as usual, and full of energy! The crowd was shaking the balcony, it was amazing!!

I went with a couple friends from work (Phil and Jessica) and my neighbor, Noah. We met Tim and his friend Justin at the Fox and they ended up sharing our seats since they were closer. We never sit down anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. It was a great night!! Especially after the day we had at work. I can't wait until next year when they come around again on tour.

Next week I am going to Champaign, IL to see the Dave Matthews Band play!!! I am really looking forward to that. Jessica is going to go with me so we are going to have to leave right after work and then drive back after the concert. It is about a three hour drive there. Hopefully we can get out of work a little early so that we can make it in time.

Fox Theatre

11.10.2005 - St. Louis, MO

With: Michael Tolcher


52-50
Love And Memories *
Hey Girl (Date Intro)
About Mr. Brown
Heard The World
Ran Away To The Top Of The World Today
Dareh Meyod
Wonderful Day
Risen
Mr. Moon
Delicate Few
Anyway $
Black Rock (Long Day Intro / What I Am Tag / Blood Outro)
One Shot
City On Down Encore:
Dakota &
That Was A Crazy Game Of Poker (Officer Tag)

& Marc and Richard.

Entire show with Michael Paris on keys, percussion, and vocals.

* with Pat Doyle (O.A.R. drum tech) on tamborine.

$ with Jimmy Maddington (O.A.R. guitar tech) on guitar.

Another Hurricane!

Wow! What a wild month for weather. Right now I am watching the news as Hurricane Rita approaches the Texas/Louisiana Coast. It is still about 6 hours away from making landfall, but there is already some damage occuring in many area's. The levee's in New Orleans have been breached again, so parts of the city are flooding again! Luckily all of the people are not there this time except for the reporters that continue to put themselves in harms way. I think it is amazing what Mother Nature can do. A lot of people have evacuated the coast after seeing the devastation that Katrina caused just a month ago. People are definitely taking hurricanes more seriously, which is good.
Here are some pitcures that I thought were interesting.

(Piture 1: A monument, dedicated to the over 6,000 killed in an unnamed hurricane in the year 1900, is seen on the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas September 23, 2005. Texas expects catastrophic damage from Hurricane Rita, including the flooding of the entire coastal city of Port Arthur, a senior state official said on Friday. The surf in the background was rapidly rising as Hurricane Rita approached. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)


(NOAA satellite image of Hurricane Rita taken at 11:15 a.m. EDT on September 23, 2005, as the storm continues moving closer to the Gulf Coast. (NOAA/Reuters)

(Homes and vehicles lie submerged in the Ninth Ward by new flooding caused by a breach of the levee on the east side of the Industrial Canal as Hurricane Rita moves towards land in New Orleans September 23, 2005. Two levee breaches have occurred on the west side, and one on the east side of the canal, allowing flood waters to flow back into New Orleans. REUTERS/J.P. Moczulski)

Road Trip to Red Rocks to see DMB. 9/9/2005 to 9/12/2005

What an amazing trip! At first I was bummed when I realized that we were only going to be able to go to one of the Red Rocks shows. Luckily my tickets were for the Night 2 show on 9/10/2005! My friend Jessica and I had tickets for the 13th row!
We drove from Belleville, Illinois (right outside of St Louis, MO) on Friday morning. The trip to Denver took us 12 hours of straight driving. We only stopped for gas and for the Kansas State Trooper that clocked us doing 83mph in a 70mph zone. Luckily she only gave us a warning which I thought was awesome of her to do.
We had reservations at the Golden Gate State Park for the next three nights of camping. We were hoping to be able to buy some tickets for the other nights off of people at the concerts. We did know that we were going to one show, so that is all that mattered. The park was beautiful! It was high up in the mountains outside of Denver, about 19 miles from Golden, Colorado. It was quiet, clean and very peaceful. Our campsite was in the Reverends Ridge section of the park right across from the showers and bathrooms. We stayed in the F-Loop site 64. We couldn't have asked for a better spot. It was the perfect place to relax for a few days.

After we arrived at the campsite, we set up the tent and some other things and then drove down to one of the local stores to buy some fire wood and charcoal so that we could cook dinner on. When we got back to the camp, we started a fire and figured out what we were going to eat for dinner. Before started any of that, we opened a much needed beer for each of us. They tasted so good after a 12 hour drive. That night was so cold. I was not prepared for the cold nights. I only packed about 2 blankets total. I couldn't sleep at all so I finally went into the car to sleep. That didn't work too well, so I went back to the tent and finally fell asleep when the sun came up. I slept until about 12:30pm.

We went to Golden, CO to tour the Coors Brewery later the day on the 12th. It was a pretty good tour where at the end they give you 3 samples of their different beers. The hospitality room is where the drinks were served and it was pretty nice compared to some of the other Brewery's that I have been to. We finished our three drinks each and walked out of the hospitality room. We still had plenty of time before the concert that night so we tore off the arm bands that we had and removed the "21" stamp that they placed on our hands. We then re-entered the tour and asked to go straight to the hospitality room instead of taking the tour. They gave us a new arm band and stamped our hands again and then off we went to get some more free beer.
So after 6 beers and a couple of hours, we left there and headed straight to Red Rocks. When we arrived, everyone was tailgating in the parking lot so we decided to join them. We had plenty of beer and Jameison Irish Whiskey. It was nice to be able to sit there and drink some cold beer while waiting for the concert to get closer to starting.
After a while, we decided to head into the venue. It took us a while to get up to the concert area. It was a nice little hike and we both had to use the bathroom very bad!! I didn't think I was going to make it. We finally got in and found the much needed restroom. We then made our way toward out seats. We had smuggled in a camera, so we decided to take a couple of pictures of each other with Red Rocks in the background. A nice lady that worked for the band told us that they were not allowed and that we should hide the camera so the Red Rock employees didn't see it. She said they would take it away from us. We were able to get the pictures though and started to walk on the front row in-front of the stage. I heard the noise level rise as we walked dead center of the stage. I looked toward there and saw Dave Matthews walking up to the microphone so that he could introduce the John Butler Trio who was the opening band. I was in total shock. Dave was no more that 30 feet from us! It was amazing. I wish the camera would have been easily accessible but it was hidden in Jess's purse. That was the closest that I had ever been to Dave! It was one of the highlights of the night.
After we got to our seats, the John Butler Trio played for about an hour or so, I thought they were great! They seem to be a pretty good jam band.
Then about 45 minutes after they ended, DMB started the show with Seek Up! From then on it was one awesome song after another. I have never seen the band play with so much enthusiasm as they did that night. It seemed to me that they did not want to stop playing any of the songs. They played for a very long time! It was awesome to see and feel the energy from Dave and the rest of the band! They played about 18 or 19 songs that I thought was the best set list I have heard live. They capped off the night with "Two Step!" I couldn't believe it! They opened with "Seek Up" and ended with "Two Step" with "Crash Into Me" thrown in there! I am so thankful that I got tickets for the night 2 show! I am excited because there is talk of them releasing the entire four days on DVD. I pray that they do. That would be the greatest!!
After the concert we drove back to the camp and decided to go to bed. This time I had about 4 layers of clothes on plus the blankets. I still woke up cold but not as bad as the night before. I woke up around 8 am and started a fire to get the morning chill out of the air. Later on during the day we decided to leave that afternoon to come home instead of the next morning. So, we packed everything up after cooking some bratwurst for lunch and headed on home. It took us about 2 hours longer, but it wasn't a big deal. We left Colorado at 3:30pm CST and arrived in Belleville around 5:30 CST.
I traveled over 1900 miles in three days to see one concert. But it was worth every minute, mile and dollar spent! I will never forget this trip. It was a blast!
Hopefully next year I will be able to do something similar. I would drive or fly anywhere to see them if I could. I could never get tired of that.

Set List for 9/10/2005 DMB-Red Rocks!!!

Saturday September 10, 2005
Red Rocks Amphitheatre

Seek Up
One Sweet World
Don’t Drink the Water
Hunger For The Great Light
Rhyme & Reason *
#34
Smooth Rider *
Jimi Thing *
Blackbird
Steady As We Go
Hello Again
Crash
Louisiana Bayou *
Best of Whats Around
American Baby
Tripping Billies *
__________________
Encore:
Where Are You Going
Two Step

Show Notes:* Rashawn Ross (Special Guest)

Road Trip to Red Rocks!!

Me and my friend Jessica are leaving tomorrow morning for Colorado! We are driving from St Louis to Red Rocks, near Morrison, CO to see the Dave Matthews Band. They are playing on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday!! It should be a great trip! I will write more after I get back and also add some pictures to go along with it!

Hurricane Katrina

It has been one week now since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. It is so amazing what nature can do. No matter how advanced we are as a society and no matter what technological advances we have made, mother nature rules over everything. If Katrina caused this much damage to the United States of America just think about what it would have done if it struck Cuba, Mexico or another "poor" country. It is amazing what the power of weather can do. It is so sad to think of all the lives that have been lost and will be lost. I never would have thought that hundreds of people could be killed in this country due to a natural disaster. The bad thing is that there will probably be thousands of people killed when the final tally is known. I always thought that the Galveston, Texas hurricane that killed an estimated 12,000 people would be the worst disaster ever. I am starting to think that Katrina may come close to those numbers. No one is talking about the death toll being that high, but I fear that it may reach numbers close to that. My heart goes out to all the people who lost love ones and homes. I could not imagine losing my home or family and having to move to another state and start over. I wish I could help each and everyone of the victims. I haven't watched this much news since the 9/11 tragedy. Katrina is going to prove to be more costly when all is said and done. I know one thing that will come out of this is a greater respect for nature and the destruction it can cause. There is also going to be a major change in the way the local, state and federal government handles future disasters. Hopefully this will also highlight the need for all people, regardless of where they live, to be prepared for an emergency situation. I know that I am going to protect my family by becoming more prepared. It will be interesting and terribly sad to see how this disaster unfolds over the next few months and what changes will be implemented in future catastrophes. I hope everyone makes a disaster plan and stocks up emergency food and water and supplies for their families.

Summer 2005

Last night I went to the opening show for the Dave Matthews Band 2005 Summer Tour! It was an awesome show (as usual)! They sounded great and mixed the newer songs in with the older favorites. I thought it was a great setlist!
If anyone reading this has never been to a DMB show, I suggest that you go. It is a unforgettable experience.
Here is the setlist from last night!






06/01/2005
Dave Matthews Band
UMB Bank Pavilion, Maryland Heights, MO
Best of Whats Around
The Stone
Dream Girl
Hello Again
American Baby
Too Much
Louisiana Bayou
What Would You Say
Time Of The Season
Die Trying
Everyday
Stand Up
Where Are You Going
Hunger For The Great Light
Two Step

Encore:
Steady As We Go
All Along The Watchtower