Mother nature has put a wrench in the plans for the DMB Caravan Governor’s Island festival, a three-day event which is scheduled to kick off tomorrow. While the first day
Dave Matthews Band Caravan @ Lakeside Chicago – July 8-10
The Dave Matthews Band’s roving music festival Caravan made its second stop at Chicago’s Lakeside on July 8 – 10. The festival featured 38 bands spread over three days and three stages, and the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) closed out each night with three-hour performances. For DMB fans I am sure the experience was heavenly; as for the rest of us Caravan was exhausting, yet it had its perks. I was drawn to Caravan for primarily two reasons: The Flaming Lips were performing The Dark Side of the Moon and the festival was at a new, never-before used site on the south side of the Windy City.
Chicago geography is strange in that one side of the city may as well be a different state from the other. Those who live anywhere north of the Loop, aka downtown, rarely venture south of the Loop and vice versa. Caravan was stationed at an old U.S. Steel Plant near 83rd street off Lake Michigan, roughly nine miles south of downtown. The festival’s location was a great tactic to draw life and money into the under served community.
Initially I was pumped about Caravan; Flaming Lips and a south side adventure! Being a Chicagoan I tend to travel by bus or train. The press release for the festival read “easily access Lakeside” by public transportation. Alright, sounded easy enough. The first red flag was when I Googled directions, the site did not register on the map. Weird, but no problem, I thought. I would just hop on the train and hope for the best. The second red flag raised when it took me two to three hours each way to get to and fro the grounds. I participated in a pilgrimage revolved around a band I did not necessarily care for.
READ ON for more of Allison’s take on DMB Caravan Chicago…
Dave Matthews Band Caravan @ Atlantic City, NJ June 24, 25 & 26
Words: Carla Danca
Photos: Jeremy Gordon
When a band decides that they aren’t hitting the road for the summer, fans often start to worry, but in the case of Dave Mathews Band, a summer free from touring left them open to much bigger and better things. DMB is no stranger to the summer festival circuit having appeared in festivals from H.O.R.D.E to Bonnaroo over the course of their 20 year career, but their own events so far have been smaller – a two-day show here or there. This year they went all in, planning four separate Caravan events including three days at the never before used as a concert venue Bader Field in Atlantic City.
[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]
While DMB could have gotten away with being the only band on the lineup, they instead pulled from an eclectic mix of artists that combined old friends and up and comers. The days were jammed packed with music, often causing hard decisions when bands overlapped. Though many of the artists held obvious appeal for DMB fans, acts such as Big Gigantic and Bassnectar provided danceable grooves, while Punch Brothers and Thievery Corporation exposed fans to a much more worldly sound.
READ ON for more from DMB Caravan – Atlantic City…
When the Dave Matthews Band announced earlier this year that they would headline four of their own festivals, you would’ve thought the events would be spread out around the country.
