An Open Letter To Dave Matthews:
December 19th, 2006 by Adam
Let me say right away that I have never been a big fan. I’m familiar with most of the material but it doesn’t grab me like so much other music, which is perfectly okay. You’ve written a lot of beautiful songs—I’m not here to attack your talent. But one thing does need to be said:
YOU ARE NOT PHISH! STOP RELEASING LIVE ALBUMS!
I get it—you fancy yourself a rockin’ jam band. You and your cronies love nothing more than getting fucked up and playing three hour concerts for hordes of Patchuli-soaked hippies in Upstate Washington. That’s hot shit– I love bands who feel free to mold and craft their art depending on the feel of the crowd, the mood of the night and whatever opiates populate their brain stem. Your band can play their asses off (especially Boyd Tinsley) but the fact of the matter is you put out WAY too many live albums.
A good rule of thumb: for every 2 studio albums you release, you are allowed to put out 1 (yes, ONE) live album. If a DVD is included, the ratio jumps to 3:1. I know you’re trying to do your own thing, and good on you for trying, but for fuck’s sake, this is getting absurd– bands that have been playing continuously since you were scampering around South Africa in newspaper diapers have tried to shove less live albums down our throats than you have.
Let’s go to the list:
Live At Red Rocks (2 CDs) October 28, 1997
Live in Chicago (2 CDs) December 18, 1998
Live At Luther College (2 CDs) January 19, 1999
Listener Supported (2 CDs) November 23, 1999
Live At Folsom Field (2 CDs) November 5, 2002
The Central Park Concert (3 CDs) November 18, 2003
Live At The Gorge (3 CD/1 DVD set OR 6 CD set) June 29, 2004
Weekend on the Rocks (3 CD OR 8 CD/1 DVD set) November 29, 2005
Live Trax Vol. 1: 12.08.1998 (2 CD set)
Live Trax Vol. 2: 09.12.2004 (3 CD set)
Live Trax Vol. 3: 08.27.2000 (2 CD set)
Live Trax Vol. 4: 04.30.1996 (2 CD set)
Live Trax Vol. 5: 08.23.1995 (2 CD set)
And the brand spanking new 4 disc Live at Fenway Park!
THAT’S OVER 40 FUCKING DISCS OF LIVE MATERIAL!!!
Six and eight disc complete sets? Are you joking? Come on, Dave, are you honestly pompous enough to believe that your every hash-addled rambling about ‘all the lovely ladies’ between songs is worthy of release? Just because you’re friends with Trey Anastasio does not give you the right. Maybe I’m naïve or completely out of the loop, but as an artist, don’t you release albums primarily so the world can hear your music? Of course you’ve got a mortgage to pay, and probably an expensive drug habit (I’m not judging, I would drink myself to death if I ever went on tour, and everyone knows it) but I’d like to think that even if you weren’t world famous you’d still write and perform and release because that’s what artists do. You release a live album so the world can hear your craft and skill and you release another when you have a lot of new material to jam on, or you do a benefit concert for AIDS or Tsunami relief. But no artist releases a new live album every six months unless their ego or NPO has grown far too large.
Please continue to tour and perform how you see fit, continue to make my ex’s wet with your mumbled slurs, continue to record every concert for posterity, but in the name of all that is good and decent, STOP RELEASING THEM. It’s unnecessary and, what’s more, it makes you look like a total dick. For a ‘rage against the machine and the war in Iraq, and support Greenpeace and small business and clean up the Chicago river’ liberal who caters to the disenfranchised pseudo-hippie segment of society, you’ve become as corporate as Jesus Christ. Who are you releasing these albums for? Certainly not your die-hard fans that consistently pay $40+ a ticket to see you live— those people bootleg your shows and share them on the internet. If it was for the true fan and not an attempt to keep your name and face in Tower Records while feeding more gobs of middle-aged white folks’ money into the machine, you’d probably just release the occasional live bootleg through the Warehouse to keep costs down and diehard fans would buy it. The dozen live albums I find in Wal-Mart are for people who don’t know any better, who aren’t astute enough to realize most of those albums feature the same songs in similar arrangements (Two Step, now with more solo!!).
I’m not accusing you of being a knowing corporate shill. I’m sure your intentions are nothing but artistically pure, but then again, Bush honestly believes in what he’s doing too. You’re not killing children for profit (not yet) but I trust you see my point. Maybe it’ll take someone without corporate sponsorship and a massive fan-base of Bay Area pot-heads to keep you honest.
See you at the Gorge in September, and on the subsequent DVD,
Adam