The Dave Matthews Band’s emotional June 1 album-release show at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre was merely a pit stop – well, a three-hour pit stop – on a long journey. During the week of Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King's release, the band played two shows at Boston's Fenway Park before flying into New York. There they appeared on "CBS Sunday Morning News," played their Beacon gig, appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (complete with self-deprecating skit), and made their morning-TV debut on "The Today Show," following which they flew to Hartford, Connecticut, to continue their summer tour.
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Currently playing a handful of festival dates in various European cities, DMB recently wrapped up the first U.S. leg of its tour, which runs into early October – a long way to go.
Big Whiskey became the band’s fifth consecutive studio effort to hit the top of Billboard's albums chart. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s Before These Crowded Streets (1998), Everyday (2001), Busted Stuff (2002), Stand Up (2005), and Big Whiskey (2009). (The band's first two albums – Under the Table and Dreaming (1994) and Crash (1996) – are merely multiplatinum sellers.)
A culturally aware act able to maintain its relevance over nearly twenty years is a rare thing these days. Not to mention that during those two decades, technology has affected the way people consume music so greatly, that those in charge (or the major labels that used to be) can’t keep up. So the fact that DMB sold nearly a half-million copies of Big Whiskey during its first week is more than impressive in a world of rampant album leakage and file sharing.
Look for the Dave Matthews Band on tour when it returns to the U.S. in mid-July.