Dave Matthews Band Bio

Dave Matthews Band Biography

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This Dave Matthews Band biography contains information believed to be accurate as extracted from sources around the internet including Wikipedia. If you believe there are errors or omissions in this Dave Matthews Band bio, please let us know so that we can correct any inaccuracies.

Dave Matthews Band (also known by the acronym DMB) is a United States-based rock band, originally formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991 by singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews. Other band members include saxophonist LeRoi Moore, bassist Stefan Lessard, violinist Boyd Tinsley and drummer Carter Beauford. Since 1998, the band has performed most of their shows with keyboardist Butch Taylor who, while not officially named a member of the band, is a fixture on stage. For 2006 and 2007, the band added trumpet player Rashawn Ross - most noted as the live trumpet player for Soulive - to the stage. It is not yet known if his presence will be permanent. Moore, Beauford, Ross, Tinsley and Taylor also perform backing vocals.

According to RIAA, Dave Matthews Band has sold over 31 million units in the US alone, putting them in the Top 100 Highest Selling Music Acts of all time.

Dave Matthews Band: History

Songwriter David John Matthews, working in Charlottesville as a bartender at Miller's bar in November 1990, made friends with a lawyer named Ross Hoffman. Hoffman convinced Matthews, usually reserved and scared of playing in front of people, to lay down a demo of the few songs he had written. Hoffman hoped Matthews could shop the songs in order to find other musicians to perform on some studio work with him. Hoffman encouraged Dave to approach Carter Beauford, a local musician on the Charlottesville music scene. Beauford had been in several bands, and was currently playing on a jazz show on Black Entertainment Television (BET). After hearing the demo, Carter agreed to spend some time playing the drums, both inside and outside the studio. Dave also approached LeRoi Moore, another local jazz musician who often performed with the John D'earth Quintet to join them. Moore would be famous later for always wearing sunglasses during shows because of his stage fright. Moore skeptically listened to the demo, but liked what he heard and decided that he too would give the young South African a chance. These three began working on Matthews's songs in 1991.

Dave later said in an interview with Michael Krugman, "In a way, initially it was just the three of us and I approached them with this tape and they said 'Sure,' cause they had time on their hands. They were both working on other things, but they had some afternoon time." The beginning stages of this new band was, in the words of Morgan Delancey, "a time of trial and incubation." Beauford would later recall that, "It started out as a three-piece thing with Dave and Leroi...working on some of Dave's songs. he only had four songs at the time..And it didn't work out with the three of us." Dave would also say, "The first time we played together...we were awful. Not just kind of bad, I mean heinously bad. We tried a couple of different songs and they were all terrible...Sometimes it amazes me that we ever had a second rehearsal."

Their limited instrumentals, however, did not provide the full sound they desired; more musicians were needed. Secrets was a former jazz fusion band based in Richmond, Virginia most notable for having LeRoi Moore and Carter Beauford as members before forming the Dave Matthews Band. Moore's former bandmate, John D'earth, conductor of the University of Virginia Orchestra and local musician, taught music at the Tandem Friends School. Stefan Lessard, a junior bassist at the time, was under his guidance in the student jazz combo, Yabanci Jazzites. On the recommendation of John D'Earth, the sixteen-year-old Lessard was asked to join in the studio to help complete the demo. While the partnership was never intended to continue beyond the studio, the four liked the sound and decided to continue together for live performances as well. Consequently, regular practices began in the basements of Carter Beauford and Matthews' mothers' homes.

Peter Griesar was a bartender at Miller's beginning in 1989, and in August 1991, during Miller's annual respite for inventory, Matthews, Beauford, Moore and Lessard used the empty bar for rehearsing. Griesar heard them rehearsing and decided to stop working for a while, pulled out his harmonica, and started playing with them. After a few songs, he was invited to perform with them. He immediately accepted, becoming the band's first keyboardist. Griesar's last show with the band was March 23, 1993.

Boyd Tinsley was the last member to join the band. Although he had performed on the demo with Matthews, Moore, Beauford and Lessard, he was busy with a couple of other bands at the time (Boyd Tinsley Band and Down Boy Down) and did not want to commit to a group of musicians that were only together in the studio at the time. He didn't become a full-time member until the middle of 1992. Matthews later admitted, "We had no plans of adding a violinist. We just wanted some fiddle tracked on this one song ["Tripping Billies"], and Boyd was a friend of Leroi. He came in and it just clicked. That completely solidified the band, gave it a lot more power."

Dave Matthews Band - Breaking out of Virginia (1991-1993)

The band's first in-studio demo was recorded in February or March 1991, and consisted of "The Song That Jane Likes," "Recently," and "Tripping Billies," prior to Boyd joining as a full-time bandmember. Boyd only performed on "Tripping Billies."

Their first public show was at the city's 1991 Earth Day Festival. Local weekly appearances soon followed, and within a short time word of the band's contagious new sound spread like wildfire.

They still did not have a name for the band. One name that was thrown around was Dumela (which is the Tswana word for "hello"), but no real enthusiasm was ever felt, and they dropped it. One story is that Moore reportedly telephoned a place they were booked and said to just write Dave Matthews. The person receiving the call just wrote 'band' after the name, and the name stayed Dave Matthews Band from that point on. Dave told Robert Trott of AP, "Boyd [Tinsley], if memory serves, wrote 'Dave Matthews Band [on this flyer for the show]. There was no time when we said, 'Let's call this band the Dave Matthews Band.' It just became that, and it sort of was too late to change when we started thinking that this could focus unfairly on me. People sort of made that association, but it's really not like that."

Beauford seemed to agree with Matthew's analysis of the band name when he said to Modern Drummer that, "As a matter of fact, that's one of the things about this band that everybody likes: There isn't a leader. Each one of us can express ourselves musically without being choked by a leader. Everybody can offer what they feel is gonna enhance the music. So yeah, that's the main thing that all the guys - especially me - feel make this band happen. It's the freedom that we have to speak with our instruments."

By the summer of 1991, they were playing at the Eastern Standard with Charles Newman as their manager for a brief time. They were also playing a regular Tuesday night show at the popular Charlottesville club Trax. Tapings of shows at Trax are some of the most widely shared among DMB fans. After Newman, Coran Capshaw, owner of the Flood Zone where the band often played, took the helm of The Dave Matthews Band. Chapshaw "wanted to work on garnering a grassroots following and allow word of mouth to advertise the band and then build upon that."

Sensing that the band was on the verge of making it big, and not wanting to have his life ruled by the grueling schedule that touring musicians often face, Peter Griesar decided to leave after a show on March 23, 1993.. Known as "Big League Chew" (as the bubble gum company was apparently sponsoring something at Trax that night), the show is one of the most well-known shows from the early years at Trax.

On November 9, 1993, DMB released its first album, Remember Two Things on its Bama Rags label. Live songs on the album were recorded at The Flood Zone in Richmond, Virginia on August 10, 1993, and The Muse Music Club on Nantucket Island on August 16-18, 1993. The album debuted on college charts as the highest independent entry, and went on to be certified platinum by the RIAA in 2002 - a significant accomplishment for an independent album. Meanwhile, the band kept touring and its fan base continued to grow. By allowing fans to tape shows for their personal use, DMB created a highly interactive community that continues to this day. Only recently has the band had to take legal action against some bootleggers who sell recordings of their concerts at a profit - something the DMB trading community also abhors.

Dave Matthews Band - Breakthrough success (1994-1996)

On September 20, 1994, DMB released their first LP, Under the Table and Dreaming, featuring their first commercial hits "What Would You Say," (featuring John Popper on harmonica), "Satellite," and "Ants Marching." The album was dedicated "In memory of Anne" for Matthews' older sister Anne, who was killed by her husband in 1994 in a murder-suicide.

Under the Table and Dreaming and its follow-up album, Crash brought the band national attention, culminating in a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "So Much to Say" as well as four other nominations between the years 1996 and 1997. The band also achieved hits with "Crash into Me," "Too Much," and "Tripping Billies."

Dave Matthews Band - Hitting the mainstream (1997-1999)

The band released their second live EP entitled Recently in 1997. The album's five tracks were taken from shows performed at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia; and from Trax back in Charlottesville. This EP featured the first recorded versions of the Bob Dylan classic, "All Along the Watchtower", and the ever popular "Halloween." Recently was released by the band independently in 1994, it was re-released by RCA Records in 1997. The Recently EP followed the independent release of Remember Two Things and preceded Under the Table and Dreaming.

By 1997, DMB reached unparalleled levels of popularity across the country and, to some degree, the world. On October 28, 1997, the band released their first full length live album, Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95. The album, which was recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, featured popular songs from the band's first three albums and included longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds on electric guitar.

In late 1997, the band returned to the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite and an array of guest collaborators, including Reynolds, banjoist Béla Fleck, vocalist Alanis Morissette, future permanent keyboardist and unofficial sixth band member Butch Taylor, and the Kronos Quartet. They composed and recorded Before These Crowded Streets, their third album with RCA, which was released on April 28, 1998. The album represented a great change in direction for the band as they did not rely on upbeat hit singles to carry the album. "Stay (Wasting Time)", an uplifting gospel number, and "Crush", a love ballad, became very popular tracks along with the lead single "Don't Drink the Water", which meaning has been debated but has overall been taken to be a very dark song. Dave Matthews has commented, however, that the inspiration for this song came from the treatment of Native Americans by the United States government.

On January 19, 1999, Matthews and Reynolds released the live album, Live at Luther College, from a February 6, 1996, acoustic concert played by Matthews and Reynolds at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The album features songs mostly from DMB's first two albums, while also featuring the previously unreleased pieces "Deed Is Done" and "Little Thing." Also included on the album is Reynolds' acoustic virtuoso piece "Stream."

During the summer, the band took part in the Woodstock '99 concert and then released their third live album, Listener Supported, in the fall. The album, a live recording, used a show performed at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 11, 1999 for a PBS television special. The album was also released as the band's first DVD. The year also provided two more Grammy nominations.

Dave Matthews Band - Turmoil in the studio (2000-2003)

Dave Matthews, Boyd Tinsley, and Butch Taylor in Melbourne during their first tour of Australia

During 2000, DMB set up their own recording studio at a large countryside home outside Charlottesville. With longtime producer Lillywhite at the helm, the band began work on a fourth studio album. Heavily influenced by personal conflicts, notably the death of Matthews' uncle from alcoholism, the songs recorded with Lillywhite rank as some of the darkest he has ever written. In the end, the studio sessions were a failure. In August 2000, the sessions were scrapped and the band's seven-year relationship with Lillywhite was over. Some believe DMB was unhappy with the atmosphere of the songs and frustrated with Lillywhite's often perfectionist style of production, while others believe Lillywhite was made into a scapegoat for the band's lack of professionalism during the recording sessions. Or, as Dave was quoted to say, he was in a depressive state and BMG kept asking him for happy music.

In October 2000, an energized Matthews began writing with Glen Ballard, most famous for his work with Alanis Morissette. The rest of DMB (along with special guest Carlos Santana) soon joined Matthews in a Los Angeles studio and quickly recorded Everyday. While the album gave the band a much-needed fresh start, Ballard's slick pop-music approach to production was very different from the creative process used to produce previous studio albums. Carter Beauford said that Everyday was a product of Matthews and Ballard and that it did not showcase the rest of the band. The February 27, 2001, release of Everyday was a huge commercial success. The singles "I Did It," "Everyday," and "The Space Between," brought the band an even larger level of popularity. But like the band itself, much of the fanbase was disappointed with the release. Everyday's slick pop sound (including Dave Matthews' first ever recording sessions on electric guitar) was a big departure from the band's previous work and highly divergent from the songs recorded with Lillywhite.

Certain songs such as "What You Are" and "When The World Ends" kept a darker edge to them, and have been more well received by older DMB fans. "Everyday" was also familiar to older DMB fans, as the main guitar lick is similar to that of the song "#36".

In March 2001, the Lillywhite conflict came full circle when the 2000 studio sessions with the producer were leaked over the internet. The tracks spread like wildfire over established internet channels such as Napster. Better known as The Lillywhite Sessions, this rough album was lauded by both the fan base and the popular press. After critical comparison of the two simultaneous albums, many fans were frustrated with the band's decision to scrap the work in exchange for Everyday. Tracks such as "Bartender," "Grey Street," "Captain," and "Grace is Gone" caused many to wonder aloud whether the band had thrown away its best, albeit unfinished, work.

On October 23, 2001, the band released their fourth live album Live in Chicago 12.19.98. The album, like the Red Rocks live set also features Tim Reynolds on guitar as well as many other special guests such as bassist Victor Wooten and saxophonist Maceo Parker.

The Lillywhite Sessions would, however, finally have their chance to shine. In response to overwhelming fan support, coupled with a popular and widely publicized online campaign known as the Release Lillywhite Recordings Campaign, DMB returned to the studio in 2002 to record Busted Stuff. Produced by Stephen Harris, the recording engineer who worked under Lillywhite on previous albums, the resulting CD provided new treatments of much of the Lillywhite Sessions' material, along with newly written songs "You Never Know" and the hit single "Where Are You Going?" which was subsequently used in the movie Mr. Deeds. Busted Stuff hit the shelves on July 16, 2002, receiving moderate critical and commercial success, while being generally well-received by the band's fans. Tracks such as "Grey Street" and "Grace Is Gone" became immediate fan favorites and were very well received at live shows.

On November 5, 2002, the band released its fifth live album, Live at Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado, recorded on July 11, 2001. The release was directed by long-time DMB lighting designer, Fenton Williams. The live release highlighted songs from both Everyday and Busted Stuff. The "Everyday" and "#36" segue can also be heard for the first time on an official release on this album. The albums was also released as a DVD.

In the Spring of 2003, Matthews and Reynolds embarked on another successful solo acoustic tour. The shows are very different from the normal DMB shows in that the venues are usually more intimate, and the song selection is very different. Before most songs, Matthews usually tells a dry funny tale about how the song was written, much to the joy of his fans. The shows are also noted for Reynolds virtuoso guitar work.

In 2003 Matthews and Tinsley released their first solo albums. Tinsley released True Reflections on June 17, 2003. The album's title track was a tune that had been played at DMB shows in the past, and also appeared on the Listener Supported CD and DVD.

On September 23, 2003, just one day before the band's mammoth Central Park concert, Dave Matthews released his first solo album, Some Devil. The album's lead single, "Gravedigger" won Matthews another Grammy Award. The album was followed by the Dave Matthews & Friends tour. The arena tour was in an interesting format as Reynolds and Matthews would play a short acoustic set, followed by a rock set featuring Matthews, Reynolds and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. The tour was a success for Matthews, and a welcome break for the rest of the band.

On September 24, 2003, DMB played a free concert on the Great Lawn in New York City's Central Park before a crowd of nearly 100,000 people. Although tickets were free and hard to find, donations were encouraged as the proceeds from the concert benefited New York City public schools. This marked the second time that DMB had recorded a live album for a charitable cause. The band was joined by guitarist Warren Haynes on the songs "Jimi Thing" and the Neil Young classic "Cortez The Killer." A live recording of that show was released on November 18 of the same year as The Central Park Concert on CD and DVD. For a limited time, when ordering The Central Park Concert on CD from the Dave Matthews Band website, a bonus CD was included in the package which included select live songs from various locations on the band's 2003 tour. Songs included Bartender, The Dreaming Tree and the well-liked song Everyday, from their concert on 9.11.03 in Hershey, PA. This song tributes the two year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Central Park Concert is known as one of the best Dave Matthews Band concerts of all time.

Dave Matthews Band - Live Trax & Stand Up (2004-2005)

2004 The Gorge, a combination 2-CD/1-DVD set with highlights from their 3-night 2002 tour closer at The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington was released on June 29, 2004. The Band also exclusively released a 6-disc CD set through the Warehouse Fan Association featuring all three nights, with each night's performance on two CDs each.

Later in the year it was announced that highlights from the Band's extensive live archives would be available for purchase via the official website. The first such release, Live Trax Vol. 1, was released on November 2, 2004 and was their performance at the Centrum Center in Worcester, Massachusetts on December 8, 1998. The album featured old friends such as guitarist Tim Reynolds, banjoist Béla Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten and saxophonist Jeff Coffin; and had already been nearly universally accepted as one of their best live performances.

On September 12, 2004, DMB played their second benefit show in less than a year, with a free show at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. This concert drew one of their largest crowds and produced a popular bootleg. The band was joined by guitarist Carlos Santana on many songs, and the tracks led to the second in the Live Trax Series, Live Trax Vol. 2 released on December 17, 2004. The album gave fans previews of newly-penned songs "Joy Ride," "Hello Again," and "Sugar Will;" all at the time presumed to be destined for release on a new studio album in 2005. Only "Hello Again" was actually included on the album's subsequent release. The other songs that debuted during the summer of 2004 - "Crazy-Easy," "Good Good Time," "Joy Ride," and "Sugar Will" - were all absent for the duration of the 2005 tour.

In August 2004, DMB was at the center of a controversy when about 800 pounds of liquid human waste was dumped from band member Boyd Tinsley's tour bus through the grate in the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto passengers aboard a sightseeing boat on the Chicago River below. The bus driver pleaded guilty, and the band has donated $50,000 to the Friends of the Chicago River and $50,000 to the Chicago Park District. In April 2005, the band paid $200,000 to settle the civil lawsuit that followed.

In Fall 2004, DMB returned to their studio in Charlottesville, Virginia with a new producer, Mark Batson. The band considered itself to be at a crucial crossroads in its evolution. The negative reaction to Everyday among its fans and the middling success of Busted Stuff, coupled with Dave Matthews' belief that the band has not made a great album since Before These Crowded Streets, all worked to create a sense of eagerness, if not urgency, to create a stellar album. Stand Up was released on May 10, 2005, debuting at #1 on the Billboard charts with sales of 465,000. Fan reaction towards the album was mixed. Some felt the band had new energy, while others felt the album was too simplistic. Regardless, Stand Up spawned the singles "American Baby," "Dreamgirl," and "Everybody Wake Up." The band also released a video for "Dreamgirl," featuring Julia Roberts, who is a long-time fan of the band.

During March 2005, Dave Matthews Band arrived on Australian shores for the first time - playing shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Byron Bay [East Coast Blues and Roots Festival]. Tickets for the standalone shows sold out within minutes, and second shows were added to the Melbourne and Sydney legs of the tour. The venues the band were booked to play included the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, the State Theatre in Sydney and the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane - neither of these venues held any more than 3000 people.

Thanks to the relatively small fanbase in Australia, many fans had a chance to meet the band before and after the shows. The fanbase has increased slightly since then.

The band supported the album with a summer-long tour culminating in a four-night stand at one of their favorite jaunts, Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Red Rocks holds special significance for the band, as it was the site of their first live album a decade earlier. All proceeds from the fourth Red Rocks show, which totalled over $1 million, went to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The 2005 Red Rocks concerts were released on November 29 as a "best of" CD/DVD combo entitled Weekend on the Rocks. The Complete Weekend On The Rocks, a box set of all four Red Rocks concerts, is also exclusively available from DMB's official store.

DMB embarked on a brief tour in Fall 2005 during November and December. That tour was quite a success and featured the return of old school songs such as "Minarets," "Halloween," "Pig," "Christmas Song," and "Recently."

Dave Matthews Band - 2006

Dave Matthews made several appearances in the UK during the Spring of 2006, notably performing a solo show at the King's College Student Union (Tutu's) on February 28, followed a little while later by a small solo tour to promote the release of Stand Up in the UK, performing at the Manchester Academy 1 on May 12, the Birmingham Academy on May 13, and the London Hammersmith Apollo on May 15. The tour was largely promoted through independent channels; Warehouse ticketing for the February 28 show was available exclusively to UK members and promoted via email, and interviews were mostly conducted by minor shows rather than by mass media outlets.

Dave Matthews Band during the 2006 Summer Tour at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA.

Dave also played a show on May 11 at the Maida Vale Studios for the Radio 2 Bob Harris show, attended by competition winners who formed an intimate crowd of around 100 people. During the show, audience members got to ask questions and Bob Harris asked Dave several himself. During several interviews, Dave professed to wanting to return to the UK to do more solo shows, confessing "I'm enjoying coming over by myself though because I don't get that many opportunities to play solo and I like doing it a lot" as well as hinting at the possibility of the entire band returning to the UK for more shows - "I think the whole idea is I'll make a couple of trips over here by myself and then bring the band over". This promise has certainly been kept by the band, as the first full-fledged Europe tour for some time was undertaken in 2007, and Matthews performed yet another acoustic tour (including Tim Reynolds), this time extending his horizons to countries other than England. The hope is to spread the word of the band to places other than North America, where the band has surprisingly received little publicity.

On April 25, 2006, Dave Matthews Band announced a $1.5 million challenge grant to help build the New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village. The band returned to the studio in March 2006 (with the resultant album slated for release in winter) before embarking on their annual summer tour. It features 51 shows across North America, having begun May 30 in St. Louis, Missouri, and concluded with a two-night stand on September 22-23 in the band's home town of Charlottesville, Virginia. The summer's notable locales for the 2006 tour were a two-night stand at Boston's Fenway Park and their first ever performance at the Hollywood Bowl. The Boston performance that took place on July 7 and 8 is featured as the sixth release in their "Live Trax" series. Along with the original five members and Butch Taylor, this featured new addition Rashawn Ross touring with the band full time. The trumpet player, who received recognition with DMB's fans while playing with the jazz band Soulive, guested on several shows in the summer of 2005 and the majority of the shows during the Winter 2005 tour. The band has also indicated that Rashawn will be around for quite some time (mentioning it during several shows in the first leg of the summer 2006 tour, the fact that he has been an important member of the recent studio sessions that have taken place both before and during the summer 2006 tour and his inclusion in the 2007 tour).

The band has used the summer tour to debut new songs such as "Sister," a song performed solo by Dave Matthews, "The Idea of You," "Kill the King," "Shotgun," "Break Free," and "Can't Stop." Older songs in the Band's catalog have appeared during the summer 2006 tour after not being played for several years, including "JTR" (a song that was long thought to be one that would never be played live again, as hinted by Stefan in a 2004 interview), "Pay For What You Get," "Sleep To Dream Her," "Raven," "The Song That Jane Likes," "Digging A Ditch," "The Last Stop," "Big Eyed Fish," "The Dreaming Tree," and a short, full-band version of "#40."

In August, Dave Matthews Band announced on their website that, in order to fulfill a contractual obligation, they would be releasing a "best of" album. They held a survey on their website that encouraged fans to select their ten favorite DMB songs. The album, titled The Best of What's Around Vol. 1, named after the opening track of 1994's Under The Table And Dreaming, was released on November 7, 2006. The album features two discs, the first consisting of what the band considers their best studio tracks, and the second of live tracks voted on by fans. Additionally, those who pre-ordered the CD on the Dave Matthews Band website received an "encore" CD with four additional live songs. The Encore CD was later made available on their website to anyone for an additional $10.

They worked with Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization, for their 2006 summer tour. Their Labor Day concert at The Gorge Amphitheatre drew a crowd of 64,468, the largest ever for that venue

Dave Matthews Band - 2007

The Dave Matthews Band at Vodafone Arena, Melbourne, Australia at the start of their second tour of Australia

In early 2007, the Dave Matthews Band entered the studio with producers Mark Batson and Steven Miller to begin recording their seventh studio album. Mark Batson's relationship was severed at some point during the recording process, and producer Rob Cavallo was named as his replacement. In late February, Dave Matthews embarked on a short tour of Europe with Tim Reynolds. The tour debuted a new song called "Cornbread," which later appeared as a full band song during the Summer 2007 Tour.

On March 23 and 24, 2007, the Dave Matthews Band performed at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two-night stand included a mix of old and new classics, alongside many cover songs. Their performance on the 24th marked the first time since the band's early days that they played four cover songs. The cover tunes the band played that night included "The Maker", "Still Water" (both composed by Daniel Lanois), "Down by the River" (composed by Neil Young), and "Sweet Caroline" (composed by Neil Diamond). It also featured the return of "Halloween", a much sought-after live song by many fans that has only been played seven times in the last seven years (twice in 2000, 2002, and 2005, and once in 2007). The shows at Las Vegas were announced as the next Live Trax release by Dave Matthews Band on April 11, 2007. This volume in the series, Live Trax Vol. 9, includes both nights spread across four compact discs and was released in June 2007.

On April 25, 2007, it was announced on the band's website that the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds performance at Radio City Music Hall that had been recorded earlier that week on the 22nd would be released on CD and DVD, the duo's second release (following Live at Luther College). It includes unreleased songs, such as "Eh Hee" and "Corn Bread", and also features many popular Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds performances not included on any previous release, including "Old Dirt Hill", "The Maker", "Gravedigger", and many more. It also includes two Tim Reynolds songs which he performed alone, "Betrayal" and "You Are My Sanity".

According to Billboard magazine, the band's new studio album was scheduled to be released in July by RCA Records, but in an interview with the Brisbane Times on May 4, 2007, Stefan Lessard stated, "We're on a bit of a creative break as far as working in the studio - we've been in pre-production for a long time, but we'll get more serious later in the year."

On May 1, 2007 the band kicked off their 2007 international tour, playing dates in Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia. These dates were followed by performances in Dublin, Lisbon (show was released on November 6 as the most recent Live Trax Vol. 10), Brussels, Landgraaf (for the Pinkpop festival), and ending the European section of the tour on May 30, at Wembley Arena, London .

On May 30, 2007, Dave Matthews Band announced a benefit show that took place on September 8, 2007 in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. The Allman Brothers Band performed with the DMB, and over 75,000 fans packed into the park's stage area. Though only 65,000 tickets were sold(50,000 originally, then a second block of 15,000) nearly 20,000 people snuck into the show, making it the largest one-day concert in Atlanta history. The show raised money for the Piedmont Park Conservancy Association. The show was also released as a CD/DVD called Live at Piedmont Park on December 11, 2007.

On July 7, 2007, Dave Matthews Band performed on the American Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium.

On September 6, 2007, Dave Matthews Band performed a free concert for the Virginia Tech student body and faculty. The show was entitled "A Concert for Virginia Tech" and was done in memory of the shootings that took place on April 16, 2007. John Mayer, Phil Vassar, and Nas joined them; Mayer even came out to play with the band for "#41". There were over 50,000 people in attendance.

The 2007 Dave Matthews Band Summer tour has included the unveiling of a number of songs previously unreleased or not performed with the full band ("#27", "Corn Bread", "Eh Hee" and "A Dream So Real"). The 2007 tour also saw the resurgence of a number of fan favorites such as "Sweet Up and Down", one of the few songs not reworked from the band's defunct Lillywhite Sessions, and a special performance of #34 on 10/2/07 at the Hollywood Bowl dedicated to Dave's wife for her 34th birthday. "Shotgun," an unrecorded song unveiled in 2006, which despite its popularity among the fan base was once rumored to have been permanently shelved by the band at the completion of the 2006 Summer tour, was also played on several occasions. Mayer also joined Dave Matthews as a special surprise to fans on the last night of his tour at the Hollywood Bowl (October 2nd).

In a news article posted on August 30 on the official site, it was announced that a video for the song "Eh Hee" would be released for free download on the iTunes Store starting September 4, and remaining free throughout the week until it would be made available for purchase The recording and video is a result of a solo effort by Dave Matthews, and does not include the other band members.

The band held a pep rally contest later in the year for United States colleges. West Point, the United States Military Academy won the contest and was the host of two DMB shows on November 14 and 15. These shows were streamed live on the AT&T blue room website.

The Dave Matthews Band held their final public 2007 show in New Jersey at the Izod Center on November 13.

Dave Matthews Band - 2008

Live Trax Vol. 11 was announced on February 12, as a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center during the 2000 summer tour. This is the second show released from this tour, the first being Live Trax Vol. 3. Live Trax Vol. 11 was released on March 25.

On April 6, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds performed an acoustic concert at Indiana University entitled "Rock for Change" in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds are scheduled to play a benefit show for the Seeds of Compassion initiative on April 11 at the Key Arena in Seattle, part of the five-day celebration that week centered on the Dalai Lama. In addition, they will be playing 2 nights at the Fifth Annual Kokua Festival on April 19 and 20 at the Waikiki Shell in Honolulu, Hawaii. These shows are also part of a benefit for the Kokua Hawai'i Foundation, created by Jack Johnson and his wife Kim to benefit Hawaii's educational system. Dave Matthews Band has been confirmed to headline the Rothbury Music Festival in Rothbury, MI. They will be on the main stage on Saturday, July 5, 2008 as part of an initial festival lineup that includes Widespread Panic, John Mayer, 311, Phil Lesh and Friends, Primus, Thievery Corporation, Michael Franti and Spearhead and many, many others.

The band is currently in the early stages of production of their next studio album. Lessard made a posting on his blog indicating that the band would commence pre-production in Virginia and then fly out to record the album in Seattle.

On March 6, 2008 in a tour announcement email it was revealed that the band is working with Rob Cavallo on their next yet-to-be-titled album. It was also mentioned that guitarist and long time friend Tim Reynolds would be recording with the band on the new studio album.

Dave Matthews Band: Taping and bootlegs

Dave Matthews Band allows audience members to record most live shows and permits not-for-profit trading of the recordings. The band cites college students trading these tapes in the early 1990s as a key reason for their current fame. The band and its management also worked with the US federal government in 1996 to launch a crackdown on for-profit bootleggers, which resulted in large-scale arrests of those responsible for illegally manufacturing and selling copies of DMB material. To further combat bootleggers, the band released Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95.

Dave Matthews Band: Warehouse Fan Association

In an effort to promote fan interaction, the official fan association for DMB, Warehouse, was opened December 4, 1998. Warehouse gives fans early access to concert tickets, exclusive CDs and merchandise to its members. Warehouse Fan Association (also known as "The Warehouse") pioneered the internet-based ticket sales used by many artists today. DMB Manager Coran Capshaw founded and ran Musictoday, a company which runs Warehouse and other online fan clubs. In August, 2006, it was acquired by major concert promoter Live Nation, a spinoff of Clear Channel.

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