Bridge School Benefit 2006 (aka, I want to kick Dave Matthews in the Nuts)

We spent last Sunday (and I mean ALL of last Sunday) at the Bridge School Benefit Concert...

at Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View.

The sun was warm, the beer was cold, and there was a killer line-up including Death Cab for Cutie, Trent Reznor, Neil Young, DMB, and Pearl Jam.




We patiently waited for my high school boyfriend Eddie Vedder to take the stage, even sitting on the cold hard ground through 45 minutes of twitchy Brian Wilson and his Beach Boys montage.

Eddie appeared and it was even better than I could have imagined. I love him. I love him so.

All was well. And then the real disaster struck. Now, as many of you know I have always hated the Dave Matthews Band. It goes back to my days as an angst ridden college student in Virginia--the land of white hats (ie, frat boys) and daddy's girls who were obsessed with this quirky fellow from around town who created a pathological following with his 'jam-band' sound. Secretly, I kind of liked his music when it came on the radio. But, I hated his fans and it annoyed me to hear the white hats brag about seeing 'DMB' for the 78th time in 2 years. Last year at the Bridge School Benefit I saw Dave perform live for the first time. He was awesome. His band wasn't there, so it was just him an an acoustic guitar, and I cried a little inside for all the hate I had so wrongfully bestowed on this obviously brilliant musician. I even repented by downloading a couple of Dave songs off of ITunes.

Fast forward to Sunday night. Eddie was so good that by the time Dave came on I didn't mind that it was past 10 pm and I had been sitting on a blanket on the hard ass ground since 3 pm. I was actually looking forward to him. But instead of doing something actually ENTERTAINING, Dave proceeded to come out with his entire band and play 3 songs. That would have been fine, except that he was on stage for AN HOUR AND A HALF. Oh yes, that's right. He played 3 songs that lasted over 30 minutes each. What the hell? And most of the time he wasn't even singing but rather doing some spastic dance while his saxaphone and trumpet player dueled it out for who could hit the highest note. Again. And again. And again. Holy shit it was painful. Like gouge out my eye painful. Like the guy is brilliant and the music interesting and I would like it if it lasted 7 minutes. That's all anyone needs. After 7 minutes you're just showing off. No one cares after 7 minutes. By that point even the white hats are secretly wishing the guy will just shut the f up and play 'Satellite' or something.

So, I fear my hate for 'DMB' has returned. Spread the word.