#1 Band in #1 Venue ⇒
On the weekend I went to see my favourite band, Dave Matthews Band, in my favourite venue, the Gorge, with Doug. If you haven't been to the Gorge for a concert, I highly, highly recommend going. It is an outdoor venue overlooking the Columbia river, the sun sets right behind the stage just before the concert starts and just love the way the music wafts over your head.
Doug and I headed out Saturday morning, with our first stop at Tulalip Casino for a poker tournament. Had we made the money, we would have been very tight to make it to the concert, but we figured what the heck, we would be up a decent amount of cash (1st paid out $2900, 10th - $310)! The tournament was really, really soft but unfortunately neither Doug nor I got any decent cards and we both finished out of the money.
After stopping for food, we got to the campsite at about 6pm (concert started at 7pm). It took us quite a while to find a spot camping as it seemed like the entire campsite was full, but we did eventually find a good spot right near a bunch of Calgarians! We quickly set up, had a few drinks and a snack.
We headed off to the concert at about 7:45pm and by the time we went and got our beer ($30 for two Coronas and two waters!!!! Niiiiiiiiice) and got settled into our spot, DM was on the stage! We missed the opening band, but oh well, what are ya going to do? As usual, DMB put on an amazing show; the band is so tight and in control. I am constantly amazed at how dynamic they are in both volume and tempo; they can go from really loud and fast to really soft and slow in a heartbeat.
They played quite a few songs I hadn't heard before, including a beautiful rendition of Sister, from Dave's Radio City Music Hall show with Tim Reynolds (mental note: purchase Dave's last two albums). The complete set list for the evening can be found here (we saw him on Sept. 1st.). The music was a great mix of old and new, fast and slow and really showcased the band's talent. The crowd was, of course, very into it and participatory; I just love it when the crowd sings along with the band.
They played for almost 3 hours and we headed back to the campsite with the masses. We did, however, hit a small snag. Neither Doug nor I knew where we had parked!! We each had some vague recollections of where we were, but in the dark it is extremely difficult to get a frame of reference. So we wandered around for an hour (!!) looking for a set of porta-potties, and a bunch of tents all the same. It got much easier when I finally remembered about the cell towers that were near us...once we found those, it was easy peasy! Boy did we sure feel stupid!
It was a long, sleepless night due to the constant sounds of the a nearby car alarm together with a yahoo beside us who decided to stay up the whole night yelling and screaming, but I wouldn't trade any of it, as it all adds to the experience. It can't have been that bad as the next morning I wished I could stay another night so I could it all over again!