DMB season has arrived!

Well it worked. And my persistence paid off. Everyday for the past couple of weeks, I've been wearing every Dave Matthews Band t-shirt I own at every non-work opportunity I could (and let's just say I have enough to last a few weeks)in the hopes that a tour announcement would come soon. After the band took last year off from touring, my life has been left with a huge gap. But the day I'd been holding my breath for finally came! The summer tour has been announced and DMB season is here. For some people, it's the anticipation of hockey season, for others it's Christmas. For me, it's all about Dave.

Once the dates and cities are announced, the flurry of Facebook posts begin immediately and friends from across the country (Canada and the US) inquire about who's going to which show so we can figure out where we'll get a chance to meet up. We start speaking in DMB lingo - N1, N2, SPAC, Wildhorse, general pit or reserves? Then comes campground reservations, pricing flights, and making our ticket requests on the Warehouse. It's all so very exciting. The first show for me this year will be in Toronto on June 2 and will be the fortieth time (yes, you read that correctly, that's 40, 4-0h) I've seen DMB. So far, I've seen them in 8 different cities, mostly across the US, and have been to the Gorge 7 times (which is just a quick two hour drive from Seattle, which is just a quick 8 hour flight from Buffalo, which is just a quick 2 hour drive from Hamilton.)... pictured here, set against the Columbia River in Washington state.

I've seen them in Toronto, Buffalo, New Jersey, Saratoga Springs, Pittsburgh, West Palm Beach, and Charlottesville. I've seen the Warehouse and been to Miller's, where myself and my DMB roadie buddy Lesley managed to get ourselves filmed in a DMB documentary. We've met a ton of interesting people on our travels from all across Canada and the US and developed some great friendships. But no, I've never met Dave, or Boyd, Stephan, Carter, Tim or LeRoy (RIP), and no, Dave doesn't recognize me in the crowd at the shows or know I've been to that many shows - not that it would be a surprise, there are tons of fans who have seen DMB in the double digits, even into the triple digits. I've got some great stories to tell and have started writing a book (or at least a blog) about my DMB road trips, so stay tuned.