I spent this past weekend in Saratoga Springs, New York for a little Dave Matthews Band weekend. I’ve only been to New York one other time and the East Coast only a handful so I’m not the most familiar with the area.

Ignorantly in my mind, everything on the East Coast is within like, 3 hours, from each other. I flew into the city and got my first experience with Brooklyn, the subways of NYC and rush hour in the Big Apple. It’s not that I dislike NYC, that fast paced lifestyle is just not me scene. I need the relaxed, laid back, good vibes of the Mindwest and West though.

Anyway, after some time spent on subways, trains and riding shotgun in the Jeep I finally made my way to Saratoga where I was reunited with my some of the nearest and dearest friends. Since we live all around the country the main times we see each other are during summer tour. Like I’ve said, we’re all a little crazy but we see, love and accept that crazy for what it is. I, for one, wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve heard great things about SPAC, it’s supposed to be one of the three best venues to see DMB. SPAC, Alpine and the Gorge are always being compared so I figured it was time for me to check out what SPAC is all about. I surely wasn’t disappointed. (however, Gorge will forever be the bee’s knees)

We decided not to line wait the first night and to instead hang out and tailgate with friends. The weather started off great- beautiful and sunny. It quickly turned to rain but that didn’t stop the good times from rolling. And, even though we didn’t wait in line all day, we were still able to walk into the pit an hour and a half before show time and get second/third row. Talk about a good deal!

Being my first show of the tour I was excited to see what this DMB2Sets was all about. Instead of an opening act, DMB came out and played an acoustic set as the ‘opener.’ It was so fantastic! Very cool to see them in such an intimate setting. They brought back some classics such as Stolen Away and also turned some crowd favorites into beautiful acoustic melodies, like Two Step.

After about an hour of the acoustic set, their crew re-set the stage and the boys were back for a full electric set.  It was so much fun to see the boys up there jamming out with such passion and energy. I had almost forgotten how much I genuinely feel at these shows. Filled with so much love and happiness, I don’t think the smile ever leaves my face when I’m at a show.

Night Two was even better than the first night. We line waited all day and were able to get our sweet spots on the rail. Home away from home 😉  I love that close interaction with the band and wouldn’t trade that spot for the world. Both sets were phenomenal- opening the acoustic set with Bartender and rocking into some of a few old favorites of mine such as Recently and Minarets. For the electric set the boys exploded with energy and sent the house rocking with a Pig opener. Again, it was so amazing to be back at a DMB show surrounded by friends, great music and lots of dancing. You could see the genuine love for what they are doing radiating off each member as they giddily played and danced their hearts out for their adoring fans.

As soon as the music stopped and Carter threw out his last stick I was instantly overcome with a bittersweet feeling. I hate saying goodbye to DMB weekends and this one was even harder. New friends that felt like old friends, old friends that felt like new friends and an overwhelming amount of memories, jokes and hashtags that will forever burn my brain and tug at my heart.

‘til we dance away..

Picture by Rodrigo Simas Photography © Dave Matthews Band 2014.