While I have seen Dave and boys at over 70 different shows, and have seen some bangers (Central Park, Radio City, 'The' Giants Stadium two step show), I have never been to the Gorge.
For the first time ever, I ventured out to Quincy, WA with my cousin all the way from NY. Safe to say it was a magical epic experience that I truly believe everyone is their life must experience. Here is random thoughts on my trip and the good, the bad and the ugly from Labor Dave Weekend.
Tickets - I was able to score a premier parking pass from the warehouse as well as really good seats for n1 and through instant ticketing getting tix for n2 and n3.
RV - we rented an RV from probably the nicest human being in the world, Bob from Pullyapp Washington. He is this older gentlemen who rents his RV on outdoorsy and he offered to drop it off for us and help us set it up - this was a homerun.
We flew into Seattle Tacoma airport, picked up our rental car and prior to leaving NY I placed an order for food and supplies at the Renton Walmart for pickup, again this was a homerun. We arrived at Walmart and pretty much every Dave Matthews Band fan on the planet was also shopping for supplies. it looked chaotic, obscene and downright scary. We pulled into the pre-order pickup spot and our order came out in out 2 minutes flat. In and out. Next stop, was a dispensary on our route to the Gorge for further supplies...
Just to be clear I hate driving, it aggravates me to no end, as my Dad used to say "driving could piss off the Pope". I guess this is from growing up and driving in NY. However the drive from Seattle to Quincy (the Gorge) was probably one of the most peaceful and relaxing drives I have ever done. I would and could do this everyday and be perfectly content.
It is a 2.5 hr drive and in Ellensburg, one of the last major towns en route we linked up with Bob and he followed us in his truck and camper. Now I thought this was going to way more complicated and cause a bigger scene, but getting in and setting up was a breeze. So one of the complications is that you can only have one car per camping spot, Bob our hero, had his truck towing the camper and we had our car. We lined up together and I explained the situation and the very nice young girl at the check-in gate so "yep totally understand no problem at all - just head right on in". Wow.
Camping - we did premier camping and I am very grateful we chose this route. While standard camping isn't much different from premier, standard is a full on party from sunrise to sunset. If you wanna sleep and have 'quiet hours' premier is the way to go. Additionally, premier gives you the luxury of hot showers and nice bathrooms. You also have the option of getting a shuttle to the venue, although we chose to walk to enjoy the scenery. Not to say that people weren't partying in premier it was more of a 'older' crowd that drank all day and shut it down around 12-1am vs. 5am next door.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
The Good:
The Venue is just absolutely spectacular, I could show you dozens of different pictures but it just doesn't go it justice. I think what it is, is the scale and depth of the Gorge just doesn't come across in photos. You really have to see it for yourself.
The People were and are amazing, everyone is so pumped to be there. This is like the mecca of Dave events. I love seeing the creativity of people on display. also fire dancers everywhere. We have some issue's getting our generator working and no less than 5 different people stopped by to help - people just seriously wanted to help.
The Music was off the charts. This is how I feel about all the songs they played on Labor Dave weekend. Basically the Gorge is the final exam, its their final presentation. They have taken all their best songs and after careful jamming all tour, they are going to play their best jams on their best songs. Notable examples include: Celisse on All Along the Watchtower - this blew my mind., #34 was a first for me, and it was everything I could have expected.
On a side note with respect to music, I am a huge Jeff fan, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like Jeff was given a bit more volume in the mix and you could really hear him jam out. Recently we only got a jeff solo as part of a trumpet/sax jam out, but at the gorge this weekend it was pure sax. Similarly with Tim, first off I love me some Tim Reynolds, I felt like the band was asking him to do too much and his guitar was just too overpowering. To give an analogy, I felt like Timmy was used on Gorge weekend as a special power weapon in a video game, absolutely devasting but can only be used few and far between. It was perfect. Buddy is just amazing, dude can play and sing he has really breathed some life back into the band.
Holy shit fucking motherfucking drones - seriously the drones were probably the coolest thing I have ever seen. The ending of the drone show with Grux and the Fire Dancer was the chef's kiss on the weekend.
The Bad
The Gorge camping is absolutely huge. Trying to get your bearings and find stuff can be a bit daunting. The staff is super nice and super helpful, but since it was labor day alot of the staff left for school so there was def a knowledge and manpower gap. We tried to find the showers in premium and got 5 different answers from 5 different people. Also some of the main premium showers were down for maintenance.
It was 105 degrees on Friday, which frankly was hot as balls. Although not humid, so it was a dry heat it still was super hot - being from NY this actually didn't bother me I was fine under a tent, but some folk from the PNW were dying in this heat, I actually felt pretty bad for them. Also in the morning its gonna be about 40 degrees, which is wild.
Bags of ice are plentiful to be found and purchased for 8 bucks a bag, little pricey but what are you gonna do?
The Ugly
Popped positive for Covid on my return - whether I got it on the plane or at the show I am not too sure. That being said, I would take the big C to see the Band at the Gorge any day of the week.
Dusty Dirt boogers all weekend - its very dry and dusty so be fully prepared to have some nice dusty dirt boogers. Although I am a big fan of some nice snot rockets.
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