"This one's for the opener..."

“…One day you’ll be the headliner!”

If you haven’t seen it yet, Dave Matthews Band has announced a completely exhaustive and intense summer tour. I know, I know…what a surprise…

Dave has been on the road relatively nonstep since 1998 or something crazy like that. He always has a major Summer tour. He always has some sort of Fall/Holiday tour. And seeing as how Dave announced that he wanted the audience to pick their opening bands, this tour is special for a lot of reasons.

The opening bands on his tour, G. Love & Special Sauce, Umphrey’s McGee, ALO, Matisyahu, O.A.R., Pat Green, and Gov’t Mule, were all voted for by the fans. As a result, these bands are going to get thrust in front of audiences ten times the size that they’re used to, and invariably, they’re going to come out successful and more popular on the other end.

It’s going to be interesting to see what these bands will use these spots for and how they fare by the end of 2006. My predictions: more Umphrey’s McGee all-ages shows, Matisyahu starts a side-project with Trey Anastasio, and Gov’t Mule, ALO, G. Love & Special Sauce and O.A.R. keep doing what they’re doing.

Also, the New York City fans are in for a treat as Dave is hosting a little two-night, mini-festival run at Randall’s Island…

Dave Matthews Band Returns to Randall’s Island, NY in August

DMB is looking forward to returning to New York City on Saturday, August 5th and Sunday, August 6th. This year’s event at Randall’s Island is sure to be even better than 2005. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones will be performing both evenings on the main stage and Gov’t Mule will be performing on the main stage on Saturday evening. Many more artists to be announced as soon as they are confirmed. Musical performances on two stages will begin early afternoon and continue into the evening. A variety of food and beverage stands will be on-site serving traditional and non-traditional fare throughout each day. Stay tuned, we will be sending out Randall’s Island updates as the event develops!

I could predict that the Randall’s Island shows will feature a mix of the openers Dave brought with him on the Caribbean Cruise Getaway and his 2006 Summer Tour, but I won’t. That’d be too easy…