I've seen DMB 7 times and about to see Dave & Tim in Sugar Land. Consistently one of the best sounding and enjoyable live shows. Personally as a musician I love the jams, but can see how they would bore most people.

aTmAg said:

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The Dave Mathews Band is really not as bad as they sound.

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I literally laughed out loud with this one. Excellent.

I'd say that belongs more to Phish

TEX465 said:

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aTmAg said:

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The Dave Mathews Band is really not as bad as they sound.

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I literally laughed out loud with this one. Excellent.

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I'll have to admit that I plagiarized Mark Twain on that one. (He said it about opera)

I like but don't love DMB. I have seen them way to many times though because I have a lot of friends who love them and I was never one to say no to a concert of any kind. (Would take a school bus to concerts every year bc had enough people to pull it off)

They can spend way to much time on certain songs and some playlists can go off the rails but hell if you don't like the music there is always someone near by that can pass you something to make it more entertaining.

St_Jason said:

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Here's my beef. I saw them at ACL in 2009 which I was excited for as they are a band that I like a few of their songs but not enough where I would go see them at a concert with just them headlining. So I watched an hour of their hour and a half long set and didn't recognize a single song they played. They winded up playing Ants Marching and So Much to Say near the end but that was it. They spent the entire hour we were there playing new tracks and deep cuts that they seemed to have a blast playing, but that no one listening enjoyed hearing.

I get they are a jam band. I get that they tour a lot. I get that some of their fans have seen them 20+ times. I get as a band that you probably hate playing the same songs every night. But come on. They have a lot of singles and there is a good portion of every concert that is people seeing them for the first time. Especially at a festival where no one is there to see only one single band, you'd think they'd play some songs people knew.

Here is the setlist from the show.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dave-matthews-band/2009/zilker-park-austin-tx-5bd7ff20.html

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As already said before me, their radio hits are simply not concert favorites.


Just like metallica.. their radio hits like wherever I may roam, sad but true, fuel, aren't necessarily their crowd favorites, and because of this, chances are you won't see these songs played at a random concert. Instead it's master of puppets, seek and destroy, one, creeping death, bell tolls, etc. A bunch of songs that were never released as singles, and therefore aren't 'hits'.

My one and only DMB concert, I spent 30+ minutes explaining that all along the watchtower is not a DMB song.

He couldn't grasp that it was a cover of a cover.

Pretty much gave up on Dave fans younger than 20 (in 2002 or 2003) at that point.

62strat said:

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St_Jason said:

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Here's my beef. I saw them at ACL in 2009 which I was excited for as they are a band that I like a few of their songs but not enough where I would go see them at a concert with just them headlining. So I watched an hour of their hour and a half long set and didn't recognize a single song they played. They winded up playing Ants Marching and So Much to Say near the end but that was it. They spent the entire hour we were there playing new tracks and deep cuts that they seemed to have a blast playing, but that no one listening enjoyed hearing.

I get they are a jam band. I get that they tour a lot. I get that some of their fans have seen them 20+ times. I get as a band that you probably hate playing the same songs every night. But come on. They have a lot of singles and there is a good portion of every concert that is people seeing them for the first time. Especially at a festival where no one is there to see only one single band, you'd think they'd play some songs people knew.

Here is the setlist from the show.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dave-matthews-band/2009/zilker-park-austin-tx-5bd7ff20.html

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As already said before me, their radio hits are simply not concert favorites.


Just like metallica.. their radio hits like wherever I may roam, sad but true, fuel, aren't necessarily their crowd favorites, and because of this, chances are you won't see these songs played at a random concert. Instead it's master of puppets, seek and destroy, one, creeping death, bell tolls, etc. A bunch of songs that were never released as singles, and therefore aren't 'hits'.

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I disagree. I've seen Metallica live and they played pretty much every radio single they had along with a good mix of new songs and deep cuts. They play Enter Sandman every single show to either end the set before the encore of as the last encore song. They generally always play at least 5 songs off the "Black" album and songs like Master of Puppets and For Whom the Bell Tolls. I think they are a good example of a band that does a good mix of changing things up and playing new songs while I'd say half of their setlist is dedicated to pure "hits".

Here is a setlist from a show they did yesterday. They didn't play it at this show but they regularly play Fuel and The Memory Remains which weren't huge with hardcore fans but big radio songs for them

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2017/gocheok-sky-dome-seoul-south-korea-43f8bb5f.html

Here is one from November

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2016/estadio-nacional-de-costa-rica-san-jose-costa-rica-7bfad674.html

I have sympathy for bands I really do. A lot of Dave's big hits were from the 90's, which was a really long time ago and they are probably tired of playing them. But at the same time the hits are what drew ALL of their fans in. Even the hardcore fans started by listening to the radio hits. Dave puts the work in, but a lot of the reason he gets to headline festivals and play stadiums is because of the foundation those hit songs laid for him.

This isn't something Dave has done but it always bugs me what bands try to distance themselves from the songs that made them famous. I know Radiohead hates playing Creep but if it wasn't for the success of that song they would have never had the freedom and opportunity to create an OK Computer or Kid A.

I don't like concerts that only play the hits. The last few big shows I've seen, ACDC and ZZTop, they played almost the exact set from the shows I'd seen them play multiple times previously. So I signed out. I'm not interested. I know their catalogues and I know there is killer music they could play (B sides and later albums), but the retread fans like retreads.

I reckon the last straw was a recent ZZ Top show and they played Legs and the whole crowd jumped up. I just shook my head. We left early, even though it was at a beautiful outdoor facility, Sandia Casino.

Maybe I'll become a Dave Matthews fan after all.

You will have to wait til 2018. He's taking 2017 off.

LHIOB said:

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You will have to wait til 2018. He's taking 2017 off.

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Well, I've waited this long, I guess another 12 months won't kill me. Unfortunately North Carolina seems to be getting less concerts these days.

St_Jason said:

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62strat said:

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St_Jason said:

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Here's my beef. I saw them at ACL in 2009 which I was excited for as they are a band that I like a few of their songs but not enough where I would go see them at a concert with just them headlining. So I watched an hour of their hour and a half long set and didn't recognize a single song they played. They winded up playing Ants Marching and So Much to Say near the end but that was it. They spent the entire hour we were there playing new tracks and deep cuts that they seemed to have a blast playing, but that no one listening enjoyed hearing.

I get they are a jam band. I get that they tour a lot. I get that some of their fans have seen them 20+ times. I get as a band that you probably hate playing the same songs every night. But come on. They have a lot of singles and there is a good portion of every concert that is people seeing them for the first time. Especially at a festival where no one is there to see only one single band, you'd think they'd play some songs people knew.

Here is the setlist from the show.
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dave-matthews-band/2009/zilker-park-austin-tx-5bd7ff20.html

---

As already said before me, their radio hits are simply not concert favorites.


Just like metallica.. their radio hits like wherever I may roam, sad but true, fuel, aren't necessarily their crowd favorites, and because of this, chances are you won't see these songs played at a random concert. Instead it's master of puppets, seek and destroy, one, creeping death, bell tolls, etc. A bunch of songs that were never released as singles, and therefore aren't 'hits'.

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I disagree. I've seen Metallica live and they played pretty much every radio single they had along with a good mix of new songs and deep cuts. They play Enter Sandman every single show to either end the set before the encore of as the last encore song. They generally always play at least 5 songs off the "Black" album and songs like Master of Puppets and For Whom the Bell Tolls. I think they are a good example of a band that does a good mix of changing things up and playing new songs while I'd say half of their setlist is dedicated to pure "hits".

Here is a setlist from a show they did yesterday. They didn't play it at this show but they regularly play Fuel and The Memory Remains which weren't huge with hardcore fans but big radio songs for them

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2017/gocheok-sky-dome-seoul-south-korea-43f8bb5f.html

Here is one from November

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/metallica/2016/estadio-nacional-de-costa-rica-san-jose-costa-rica-7bfad674.html

I have sympathy for bands I really do. A lot of Dave's big hits were from the 90's, which was a really long time ago and they are probably tired of playing them. But at the same time the hits are what drew ALL of their fans in. Even the hardcore fans started by listening to the radio hits. Dave puts the work in, but a lot of the reason he gets to headline festivals and play stadiums is because of the foundation those hit songs laid for him.

This isn't something Dave has done but it always bugs me what bands try to distance themselves from the songs that made them famous. I know Radiohead hates playing Creep but if it wasn't for the success of that song they would have never had the freedom and opportunity to create an OK Computer or Kid A.

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Well, we can take this discussion here:
http://www.setlist.fm/stats/metallica-3bd680c8.html

I left off Sandman from my example list because, yes, they just about play that every show. Sad and nothing else matters were more than I thought, so I'll give you that. The others are way less though (roam, unforgiven, any others)
Load/reload songs don't even crack top 20. Obviously they don't have as much potential to be played older ones. But sandman has 1200 appearances out of about 1300 potential shows. Load songs have potentially 1000 shows, reload has just a bit less. Fuel is the most frequent at less than 50% of the shows. The other ones get down to 20-30% quickly.

Anyway, you get the idea. Some bands have way more reputation on the stage than they do on the radio, and the setlist reflects that. DMB, or Metallica for that matter, are far from the only examples of this type of dynamic. Look at someone like radiohead.. only one song of theirs was a true smash hit, and it's never played.

Bruce Almighty said:

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Is Dave Matthews the 90s/2000s version of The Grateful Dead?

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I'm thinking the 90's version of the 70's band Chicago (before Peter Cetera screwed them up).

Rock. Jass influence. Incredibly talented musicians. A few hits. Prowess in the studio.

WestAustinAg said:

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Bruce Almighty said:

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Is Dave Matthews the 90s/2000s version of The Grateful Dead?

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I'm thinking the 90's version of the 70's band Chicago (before Peter Cetera screwed them up).

Rock. Jass influence. Incredibly talented musicians. A few hits. Prowess in the studio.

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I was thinking more about the fans than the actual music.

Very talented band but mind numbingly boring live.

This is my issue with the guys. If I go to a concert I want to hear their popular stuff, but we went to the Woodlands show and I recognized one song, none of which were off of Under the Table and Dreaming. Not what I expected.

This is immediately what I think of when that happens:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-segment---david-spade/n10577?snl=1

Junkhead said:

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Very talented band but mind numbingly boring live.

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DMB? I think their tour attendance and live album sales would suggest oterwise

12f Mane said:

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Junkhead said:

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Very talented band but mind numbingly boring live.

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DMB? I think their tour attendance and live album sales would suggest oterwise

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All that says is there are tons of people with ****ty taste in music.

I've seen him live twice so I'm judging based on my own experiences.

"DMB fans have ****ty taste in music"

"I've seen them twice, I should know"

Admittedly I don't take drugs so maybe if I fried my brain I'd like DMB too.

Junkhead said:

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Very talented band but mind numbingly boring live.

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My wifes cousin loves them. She (the cousin) has seen DMB close to 200 times live. They become pretty good friends with the members of the band at this point.

You don't understand how someone can recognize talent yet be bored by it?

willie wonka said:

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This is my issue with the guys. If I go to a concert I want to hear their popular stuff, but we went to the Woodlands show and I recognized one song, none of which were off of Under the Table and Dreaming. Not what I expected.

This is immediately what I think of when that happens:

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/weekend-update-segment---david-spade/n10577?snl=1

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Funny especially Big Country