Caravan Recap

This past weekend a friend and I went to the Dave Matthews Band Caravan Chicago stop.  It was incredible.  Don't have the exact statistics, but I heard that each night had between 40,000-60,000 fans in attendance.  Huge.

The festival was remarkably well-run and  well-planned.  The south Chicago venue site was originally a steel refinery or something, so it was a bit rough (difficult to walk around without tripping on cobblestones and I did find more than one industrial-looking doodad lying around) but it was expansive and flat, all-in-all a good place to put a large music festival.

Here is a picture from the top of the Ferris wheel.  Oh, yeah, they had a Ferris wheel!  Nice touch.  Yes, beer was expensive, as par for the course for any concert, but for one dollar more, people had the option of getting better beer and even wine.  There was a farmer's market section, offering fresh fruit, and a couple of misting stations to cool off in.  Also available were free water stations, open to anyone with a reusable water bottle.  These usually had very long lines, but it was a nice service.  Another nice feature was a vegetarian friendly food vendor.  Usually, I go to big festivals like this and have a hard time finding tasty, veggie-ready food.  The portobello wrap and Benevolent Burrito from the Crescent Food stand were super yummy.
The daytime acts were solid and the sound system was superb.  Even on the outer edges of the crowd, it was possible to hear singers and instruments cleanly and clearly.  I discovered a couple new bands to listen to, a reggae group called Soja, O.A.R., and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.  We got to the grounds a bit late on day two to see TR3 play, but I have seen them in Davenport twice, so I wasn't too worried.  TR3 is Tim Reynolds trio.  Tim Reynolds has been an unofficial member of DMB and often tours with them.  He is also one helluva guitar player!

We got fairly close to the stage on the first night.  On Friday night, the band played a good mix of old and new and pulled out some not-often heard gems, like Joyride.  I was happy to hear You Might Die Trying done in the spirit of a recent LiveTrax (New York), where after the sax solo, just as the song builds to a thrilling conclusion, Dave vocalizes a nonsense-filled, energetic, rhythmic riff that reminds me just why I love the man so much.  Boyd was crazy good this set of shows, also reminding me of what he adds to the sound of the group, even though he appears to stay in the background.  Jeff Coffin burned up the sax solos, creatively and musically.  Stefan and Carter laying down an always tasteful groove and Rashawn Ross (who looked fabulous, by the way.  It looks like he's lost about 100 pounds) adding just the right amount of trumpet.

At the end of night one, Dave came out for a solo encore (they always do at least two encores) on a ukulele.  Brilliant.  He also gave a performance of Out of My Hands, which features him on a piano.  Ending the show on Shake Me Like a Monkey was perfection.

The second night had a few more mainstream tunes, but still had a good mix.  Saturday opened with #41, a definite crowd-pleaser that the fans loved.  I loved hearing Alligator Pie and Too Much and ending on Two Step was a great choice.  Carter's drum solo was a solo to beat all drum solos.

Overall, a great couple of shows, maybe the best I've seen.  The band sounded tight and fresh, and they looked like they were having a great time.  And, as anyone who has been a part of a DMB concert crowd knows, part of the experience is to survive being part of the crowd.  True, some DMB fans go just to get drunk and stupid, but there are plenty more people in the crowd there just to enjoy some great music from a great band.