After last week’s U2 fan club gift announcement, Dave Matthews Band has followed suit (except with more details) for its own diehards. Warehouse members will receive two downloads – one is the contents of the traditional Warehouse CD, along with a bonus full concert. That show is 8/25/21 in Gilford, New Hampshire, all the nicer for being recent and another release with Buddy Strong on keys.
On to the Warehouse disc rundown, with help from the DMB Almanac …
‘Always’ a surprise
The opening #40 breakout (not quite a minute and a half), comes from last year’s Greenwood Village, CO show. What it lacks in length, it makes up for in rarity. The Dave/Tim/Carter fragment represents the only live appearance of the pretty song since 2015.
Nonalbum track Beach Ball only made three appearances on the 2012 summer tour. The middle one, from Hartford, makes this compilation. As of this writing, the song has only received 17 full-band performances at all.
After a Stay Or Leave from last year’s Irvine stop, Black and Blue Bird arrives from West Palm Beach 2015. That song has only one full-band appearance since its big debut in 2015.
Sticking with 2015, a Spaceman>Cornbread pairing doesn’t necessarily seem all that remarkable, but the acoustic set gives it some distinction. As does any performance from the Gorge.
Old-school block
And finally, the DMB camp wasn’t about to go without some content from the wayback machine (and #IWT content, I’m pleased to report). Clocking in at over 30 minutes, the Minarets (with scat intro) > Typical Situation > #36 > Ants Marching from 11/8/94 Washington, DC more than fits the bill.
Both halves of the Minarets>Typical duo were actually somewhat rare for this moment in DMB setlists. On a fall tour comprising more than 50 shows, neither song reached the 20-show mark. The dynamic four-pack covered multiple moods and closed the main set that night at Lisner Auditorium.
All in all, strong marks to the DMB archive for putting in the effort to infuse this year’s Warehouse edition with rarity beyond that #40 opener while pulling out at least one dustier DAT along the way.
Love! Baby!
Finally, Warehouse members can download a Wednesday night in New Hampshire from last summer. The Almanac gives it a setlist ranking of 4th out of 39 shows on the summer tour, and that achievement was a group effort across the setlist.
Songs that didn’t hit double digits last year include The Song That Jane Likes (9), Samurai Cop (7), Gravedigger (5), Write A Song (3), Digging A Ditch (4), Minarets (6), Stay (7), and Sister (8).
Personally, I’m looking forward to 24 minutes of Pig / Seek Up, plus the ’90s dopamine hit of Granny / What Would You Say in the 2-3 slots, all filtered through the sound of today’s lineup.
As a PSA, the Warehouse membership costs $35 annually. In addition to this kind of stuff, the membership includes access to an involved but (in my experience) well-run and time-tested advanced ticketing setup. U2 offers special ticket access, too, but of course in a typical year, U2 isn’t on tour, whereas DMB has essentially taken one summer off in the last 30 years.
