I saw the Dave Matthews Band open for Phish at the Santa Monica Civic.
I do what Chip tells me. He’d told me I had to come see Phish at the Variety Arts Center and I’d watched them blow up. The DMB was his new band.
I didn’t know that the Santa Monica Civic had a false floor, that it was suspended in such a way that when they started playing “Ants Marching” and the college-aged audience dressed in the same exact clothing as the band members themselves erupted and started moving up and down that the floor would too. I’d never heard the number before, I haven’t forgotten it since.
During the break, before the headliner took the stage, I went with Chip to a side room, just east of the auditorium itself, that resembled nothing so much as an elementary school classroom, to hang out. It was there that I met Boyd, Carter and LeRoi. Maybe LeRoi, I can’t remember exactly, it was fifteen years ago…
This was before Dave became not only a TV star, but a cultural icon, before his humor became widely known. They were just another band. Who kept getting bigger and bigger, whose fanbase kept growing. I followed them to the Palladium, all the way to Staples and the Hollywood Bowl. And got to know their manager, Coran Capshaw, along the way. Not incredibly well. Which is probably why he wanted to have lunch on Tuesday. To talk in an environment different from backstage.
On the way to the Peninsula, I heard “Where Are You Going” on No Shoes Radio, Kenny Chesney testified not only about Dave, but the band’s drummer. I told Coran and Chip this when we sat down. Coran told me Kenny had a place on St. John too. They were buddies.
It was that kind of conversation. Catching up, filling in the little details. Telling me about the status of the band. How they’d mixed it up, how they were playing better than ever before, with Tim Reynolds on the road with them and two replacements for LeRoi.
DMB — Remember 3 things…
First, Dave’s new album, Big Whiskey & The Groogux King, will be released on Tuesday, 6/2. Secondly, Fuse will be broadcasting Dave’s show from The Beacon Theatre tomorrow night (check local listings for time). Thirdly, check out the video below with Carter and Dave.
Grammy snub of LeRoi Moore
Last night The Grammy’s ran their annual Memorial Tribute, but left out 12 time nominee and 1 time winner, LeRoi Moore of The Dave Matthews Band. Well, we remember and appreciate you LeRoi! Click here for more on LeRoi and DMB.
Happy Birthday — Dave Matthews
Born on this date in 1967, mega superstar Dave Matthews has been thrilling audiences with his unique acoustic , horn and fiddle inflected pop jams since 1991. Click here for recent Dave news, video clips and some choice archived DMB shows.
Dave Matthews Band w/Robert Randolph
Dave on electric with Robert Randolph shredding on the pedal steel. From the Hollywood Bowl on 8/28/06.
Dave Matthews Band — Burlington, VT (1/26/1995)
Really good Dave show here. Cool to hear ’95 era Trey tear it up on some of Dave’s early material. Dave was opening up for Big Head & The Monsters at Lake Champlain.
Seek Up
#36
Dancing Nancies
Best of What’s Around
Rhyme & Reason
Jimi Thing #
Recently #
Ants Marching #
Nature Intro #
Tripping Billies
# with Trey Anastasio
Dave Matthews & Friends — “Sweet Up and Down”
Here’s Dave and Trey with a show stopping performance of “Sweet Up and Down”.
Dave Matthews Band — Jeff Coffin To Join Permanently?
From Salt Lake Tribune:
“It’s such a shame to see this thing come to an end,” said Jeff Coffin, who plays with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, and is in talks to permanently replace Moore as saxophone player in the Dave Matthews Band.(Continue Reading…“)
Little Feat — Join The Band
The new release from 429 records is Little Feat’s “Join The Band“. Produced by Jimmy Buffet, this is an album that has an amazing assortment of guest stars playing with Little Feat, featuring: Dave Matthews, Mike Gordon, Jimmy Buffet, Vince Gill, Chris Robinson, Bela Fleck, Bob Seger (deep breath) Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Brooks & Dunn and Sonny Landreth. Most of the ‘Feat’s crowd pleasers are here, along with The Band’s,”The Weight” and Woody Guthrie’s, “This Land Is Your Land”. After a couple of listens, there are certainly songs that jump out at you more than others. A fine example of this is Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush and Bela Fleck’s take on “Sailin’ Shoes”. A few more of the standouts are Mike Gordon’s guesting on “This Land Is Your Land” and Bela Fleck’s on “The Weight”. My only complaint is longing for a grittier vocal take on “Dixie Chicken”.
The album is flawlessly produced and couldn’t have been possible without Little Feat’s amazing prowess as a powerhouse groove machine, good time band. Perfect execution and clean, sharp chops on top of a bouncy rhythym section make this a highly recommended album. I just wish that I had it earlier in the summer, as it is perfect beach music. Link to purchase
LeRoi Moore — Reflections On His Passing
LeRoi Moore — Remembered…
From Rolling Stone:
John Popper of Blues Traveler and producer Steve Lillywhite both talked to Rolling Stone about the loss of their friend, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore. “He was a very sweet man,” said Popper. “He was always about the music. He was like a tough jazz musician. He was always more about how you play than how the crowd bought it. He was always talking music.” Popper first met Moore when DMB opened for Blues Traveler in 1991. “When he came to DMB, he brought a whole new foundation. As a sax player, there was a confidence when someone was using those scales and coming from his school. He was one of the best sax players I’ve ever heard,” Popper said.
Steve Lillywhite, who produced DMB’s Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash and Before These Crowded Streets, said of LeRoi — which means “the king” in French — “He was very much the king of a lot of things he did. I have great memories of staying up late in the studio working on music collages with him.” Lillywhite adds, “He was a beautiful person. He had music — music was the number one thing for him.” As for his favorites of Moore’s contributions, Lillywhite remembers Moore’s work on the Under the Table and Dreaming cut “Lover Lay Down,” as well as Moore’s most “essential” performance, the “Bartender” found on the “Lillywhite Sessions” bootleg. “It’s a sad time for all of us, but he has a legacy that will always live.”
Trey Anastasio — Tribute LeRoi Moore
Posted on Phish.com:
When Phish played Virginia Beach in 1997, LeRoi came on stage and started playing three saxophones at once and set off the most hilarious chain of events. Within minutes Page was playing four of his keyboards with his hands and feet and I had three guitars on and drumsticks in my hand banging on Fish’s drums. and Mike was playing two basses. It was just a phenomenal moment! And I remember LeRoi laughing with his mouth full of saxophones.
We miss you LeRoi and thank you for the joy you brought all of us.
- Trey Anastasio
LeRoi Moore — Sit-Ins With Phish
Hidden Track, quick on the draw as usual, has posted tracks of Phish performing with LeRoi Moore from two seperate occasions. The first is the Bob Marley classic, “Three Little Birds” from June 17, 1995. The second is two tracks from July 21, 1997, “Theme From The Bottom” and “Funky Bitch”. Continue to HT for the downloads.
Dave Matthews — LeRoi Moore Story (8/19/2008)
In this video, Dave tells a nice story about his band’s fallen member, LeRoi Moore.
Dave Matthews Band — Show Goes On At Staples Center
Last night at The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA, the Dave Matthews Band took the stage in honor of their fallen band mate and Dave Matthews Band founding member, LeRoi Moore, who had died a few hours earlier. A very emotional evening for sure, Dave made the sad, sad announcement as Carter Beauford, Boyd Tinsley and Stefan Lessard choked back the tears and launched into “Proudest Monkey”. Moore died as a result of complications that stemmed from an ATV accident on June 30th.
Here is the setlist from last night’s show:
Tuesday Aug 19 2008
Staples Center
Bartender *
Proudest Monkey *
Satellite *
So Damn Lucky *
Eh Hee *
Water Into Wine *
Burning Down The House *
Dancing Nancies *
Loving Wings *
The Maker *
Sledgehammer *
Grey Street *
Dreaming Tree *
Crash Into Me *
Everyday
Anyone Seen The Bridge *
Too Much Intro *
Ants Marching *
__________________
Sister +
Corn Bread *
Two Step *
Show Notes:
Send good thoughts for LeRoi
* Jeff Coffin
+ Dave, Tim, Carter and Rashawn
Vintage clip from 12/29/1995 of DMB performing “Proudest Mokey”:
LeRoi Moore — RIP (1961-2008)
As we reported a few hours ago, LeRoi Moore has indeed passed away. A rep for DMB just gave the following statement:
“LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. Moore had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.”
“One Sweet World” from 6/5/2005:
and from 9/1/02
RIP LeRoi. You will be sorely missed.
RIP — LeRoi Moore (1961-2008)
It is with a heavy heart that we report that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band has passed away. His death was caused from complications stemming from an ATV accident he suffered on 6/30/2008. No further information is available at this time. Glide Magazine’s Hidden Track has further confirmation.
(Editor: We are trying at this point to get further confirmation on LeRoi Moore.)
Little Feat — Join The Band
August 26th will see the release of Little Feat’s new album, “Join The Band”.
The album will feature: Dave Matthews, Mike Gordon, Jimmy Buffett, Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Chris Robinson, Vince Gill, Sonny Landreth amongst others. The album will feature several of the band’s most loved tracks, including: Dixie Chicken, Willin’, Time Loves A Hero, Fat Man In The Bathtub, Oh Atlanta, Spanish Moon, Sailin’ Shoes, etc. it will be released by 429 Records.
Dave Matthews Band — New Live Trax
Here’s the story from Jambands.com:
The next volume in Dave Matthews Band’s Live Trax series documents a performance that took place earlier this year. Live Trax Vol. 13 captures Dave Matthews Band’s June 7, 2008 stop at St. Louis, MO’s Busch Stadium with current auxiliary musicians Rashawn Ross and Tim Reynolds. Dave Matthews Band was actually the first band to perform at the major league stadium, which holds close to 35,000 fans. The show was apparently selected because of a unique setlist that features material from each DMB release, including rarities like “Pay For What You Get,” “Recently” and a “Water into Wine” jam, the latter of which had not been played in 12 years. Other songs of note include 13-minute take on “Crush,” as well as covers of Neil Young’s “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Again).” A journal entry on the group’s homepage mentions that the group felt as if they had delivered an “old schoold DMB” show. Dave Matthews Band will perform at The Woodlands, TX’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion tomorrow.
Dave Matthews Band With Robert Randolph — Louisiana Bayou
Nice sit-in with steel pedal wiz, Robert Randolph.
Dave Matthews Band — Lillywhite Sessions
Download of Dave Matthews Band’s 1999-2000 studio album. Not available commercially.
Review from music-critic.com:
Lost Gems
by: matt halversonIn the age of Napster, we’ve begun to believe the music our favorite artists create belongs to us – heck we’re fans; we’re entitled to it. Ever since Dave Matthews Band decided to shelve the album completed during its Spring 2000 studio sessions with Steve Lillywhite in favor of the decidedly glossier, pop-infused production of Glen Ballard on Everyday, fans of the band have been clamoring for the finished product of those the recordings. It didn’t help that the band road-tested several of those songs (“Grey Street,” “Bartender” and “Grace is Gone” among them) on its summer tour, effectively whetting the fans’ collective appetite for an album that wouldn’t be. After the recordings were leaked to the Internet in late March, however, fans finally got their hands on The Lillywhite Sessions and heard what they had been missing. And they had missed out on a lot.
Though simple and vaguely uninspired, the title tells more about the album than anything the band’s members could have slapped on it. It conjures an image of Dave and his supporting cast sitting around a mic in the studio bouncing song ideas off of each other. And that’s exactly how Sessions sounds. Loose, rough and raw (in direct contrast with the slick, ultra-tight production of Everyday), the arrangements give each member a chance to spread out and weave himself into the songs. Violinist Boyd Tinsley and saxophonist Leroi Moore do an impressive job of harmonizing and taking the spotlight without inundating the songs with misplaced solos. Drummer Carter Beauford employs his vast arsenal of wood blocks, cow bells and cymbals, exhibiting his complex style that is noticeably absent from Everyday. The recordings’ unfinished quality is no doubt the result of the album never receiving the finishing touches applied to a studio release (Beauford can be heard counting off the beat at the beginning of several tracks), but instead of cheapening the music, it adds an improvisational, live energy usually found only in DMB’s concerts.
Thematically, Sessions picks up where 1998′s Before These Crowded Streets left off, but here Matthews seems intent on retreating further into the dark corner he retired to in writing Streets. With titles like “Busted Stuff,” “Digging a Ditch” and “Grey Street,” the direction of Sessions is painfully obvious before the music starts. In Matthews’ world, women always leave (“Grace is Gone,” “Busted Stuff”) and life is generally unbearable (“Grey Street”), but there’s always alcohol to soothe the pain (“Bartender”). The somber nature of this collection of songs sounds all the more depressing against Everyday‘s saccharine blandness, but given the band’s previous releases, it’s much more believable.
For all its darkness, Sessions can’t help but still sound fun at times. “Grey Street,” a story of several people who have all but given up on life, is one of the catchier, happiest sounding songs on the album. The mixing of heavy lyrics with music to which his devout followers can dance is one of Matthews’ greatest strengths, and he executes it here with a talent he has yet to show off.
Much has been made of Matthews’ decision to switch to the electric guitar for Everyday, and the attention was well deserved. Where he had been relegated to the position of a rhythm guitarist on previous albums (Matthews has joked about Lillywhite’s propensity for turning his guitar down until it was almost non-existent), he shoved his way to the front of the music with his dirty, grinding play on Everyday. On Sessions, however, he has yet to plug in, and his playing takes on a more muted, modest tone, setting the stage for Tinsley and Moore’s texturing.
The time they spent with Ballard did teach them to be a little more musically concise, but the lessons had yet to be learned when Sessions was recorded. For the most part, the looser arrangements and longer song lengths work well. “Bartender” clocks in at just over ten minutes, the majority of which is a concert-worthy jam, but it never seems nearly as laborious or overstretched as “Monkey Man,” which is only half as long.
Sessions and Everyday couldn’t be more different, both musically and lyrically. The former is unpolished, and gritty, while the latter is honey-glazed pop. But despite its dark thematic texturing and rehashing of formulas off which the band has made a living for the three albums preceding Everyday, the pirated studio sessions find Dave Matthews Band doing what they do best – playing loose fun music that’s tailor-made for live performances.
Dave Matthews — In My Life
Dave singing the John Lennon penned Beatles classic, “In My Life”.
Orchestra Baobob With Trey & Dave — Letterman Appearance
Performing “Bu Ma Mil”.
Dave Matthews — All Along The Watchtower
And here’s Dave’s take.
