The DMB Caravan Odyssey - Part II

I woke up around 5:00 a.m. Saturday morning feeling tired and a little sore. I thought how am I going to make it through another full day of the festival. I've seen DMB two nights in a row before, but that's just DMB performing at night not an entire afternoon and evening of performances. Let's face it I'm not getting any younger.

I fell back asleep and woke up later around 8 a.m. I started thinking about all the artists I was looking forward to seeing that day. Before I knew it I was thinking "who's tired?" and was ready to go for another day.

Each morning that weekend felt like Christmas morning. Great shows, DMB each night and we had great weather too.

We met the LAN crew for breakfast around the corner from the house. They had pork roll on the menu, score! Good to see some "northern flavor" on the menu. After breakfast, we decided to gather up what we needed and then headed over to the Trump Plaza where Tom and Tracey were staying. While Tracey got ready, we hung out at the Beach Bar and enjoyed some Coronas and The Donald's own brand of bottled water.

There we were deep in conversation looking forward to the day's performances and discussing the Beach Bar DJ's selections, which actually started kicking with some nice cuts from Kings of Leon, Rush and DMB. When to my shock...

There are times when you see things, and you really can't believe what you just saw. It's the "train wreck" syndrome that something so ghastly, so horrific grabs your attention, and you have to look even though afterwards you wish it were possible to "un-see" what you just saw. This was one of those moments.

If you saw the movie "Borat" you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I guy walked past wearing the thong (or mankini) that Borat wore. This guy had a backpack and strolled through the bar like this was a normal day at the beach. I said something like "What the...!" I think the Monkey was the only one smart enough to not turn around. If I could "un-see" it I would!

Thankfully my Coronas did not make a re-appearance, and we were soon on our way back to the Caravan. We took a cab from Trump Plaza that could only go as far as the bridge on Albany Ave. We walked across the bridge and were ready to take in day #2 of the Caravan.

From DMB Caravan - June 24-26, 2011

Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds were our first stop that afternoon. They played an acoustic set on the Atlantic Stage. This wasn’t a full set maybe about 45 minutes, but still no song repeats. We would find out Sunday night when the festival ended that DMB had not repeated a song the entire weekend.



There were three stages with various artists scheduled throughout each day. There was a craft beer and wine area that also had gourmet food. Food Network's Iron Chef Jose Garces' was serving up huge burgers, short-rib cheese fries, along with tacos that were pretty friggin' amazing. I had the burger on Sunday and it was da bomb! Philly area's own Chip Roman of Blackfish was serving up some great gourmet food too. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to try everything, but happily would have.

The first day I picked up my free DMB Warehouse water bottle, a poster and a T-shirt. So on Day #2, I was glad to be free of these items. I would have brought the water bottle back with me to use at the Brita Water filling stations, but the lines for these were ridiculously long. It was easier to buy a bottle of water and then deposit the empty bottle in a recycling bin.

Guster was up next on the Atlantic stage. Rob and I watched the first half of their set that included one of my favorites "Barrel of a Gun," and then walked over to the Pacific Stage and caught the end of the From Good Homes performance. We caught up with the LAN crew and got a prime spot near the front for the Warren Haynes Band who were up next.

You might be wondering by now what my beer of choice was during the festival. Star Hill Brewery of Charlottesville, VA, is not just a maker of fine ales and lagers, but also was the promoter behind the festival. This was another really cool feature, because whenever I see DMB in Virginia or NC, I know I can always count on a Star Hill tent in the food and beverage area serving up their very fine Northern Lights IPA. So while most people went off to grab their Buds, Coors and Millers, I proudly asked for an IPA, please.

With a fresh Star Hill IPA in hand, we were ready for the Warren Haynes Band to rock us into the late afternoon. While I like O.A.R., who were performing across the way at the same time, I've seen them open for DMB and Sheryl Crow, but I've never seen the Warren Haynes Band. Warren is a guitar virtuoso who is also a member of The Allman Brothers Band and Gov't Mule. He's guested with DMB on numerous occasions in the past, so being able to see him play with his own band just before DMB gave us hope that Warren would join DMB later on stage. We would not be disappointed. Adding to our anticipation, we could see Tim Reynolds checking out Warrren and his band from off stage.

From DMB Caravan - June 24-26, 2011

The Warren Haynes Band played much of their recently released new album and were easily my 2nd favorite performance of the festival behind DMB, and just nearly edged out Grace Potter & The Nocturnals for that spot. Grace and her band would play the same stage Sunday afternoon.



These video clips don't do justice to their rocking performance, guess you had to be there. I included the clip below, their last song from the set, because later in the video to the right you can see The Monkey, Tracey and a glimpse of ol' Lazy Acres himself.



With the sun getting low in the sky, we headed over to get a spot for Dave and the boys to close out the evening. We were a little farther back from the stage than the night before, but still in great viewing position.

From DMB Caravan - June 24-26, 2011

They played another amazing set that included South African singer Vusi Mahlasela on "Everyday" and of course Mr. Warren Haynes on "#41" - wow!



The next video clip gives a little taste of Warren Haynes' contribution to the performance.



The photo below I exposed for the night sky, and it looks like the stage is exploding. It was!

From DMB Caravan - June 24-26, 2011

DMB set list - June 25, 2011

After another amazing round of afternoon and evening performances, we made our way from the festival grounds. We stopped at the The Wonder Bar for post-show drinks and eats. We were a bit amazed that more people hadn't stopped in at the 24-hour bar and grill. We downed some grilled hot dogs and brews then made our way back to our respective sleeping quarters.

Monkey and I had a good walk, just under two miles back to the house, but it went by quickly as we talked over the last two amazing days.

There was one more festival day to come.

- Salud!