Summer Tour is Nigh
This is one of my favorite times of the year: When I can officially say that summer tour is less than a month away. The anticipation of upcoming shows is obviously a very different kind of excitement than the shows themselves, but nonetheless exciting in and of itself. That’s why most of my favorite DMB shows are the ones that aren’t local–I love plotting out insane road trips, finding hotels, figuring out who’s going to what shows. It’s kind of like a break from life, having this great event looming out there in the near future. The closest thing I can equate it to is being a kid and anxiously counting down to Christmas. Maybe you’re having a bad day on December 10, but you can comfort yourself by knowing that in just a few weeks, Chrismas will be here and you’ll be celebrating. And by the time Christmas Eve rolls around, you’ve almost worked yourself up to a boiling point, where it feels like the excitement is actually going to burst on out of you. DMB shows are my adult version of that.
I recently spent some time chatting with Dr. Barry Barnes, a Grateful Dead scholar and professor of leadership at NOVA Southeastern University’s business school, who has built his classes around the Grateful Dead’s sense of community and active involvement. You can debate the similarities and differences between the Deadhead culture and the DMB fan base until you turn blue in the face, but the shared appreciation of live shows and the community aspect that comes with them is undebatable. I thought Dr. Barnes summed it up perfectly when he spoke about how, in the end, it’s about so much more than just the show itself. “The early times that I would see the Dead, I’d get there at the last minute and go into the venue. Then I realized, I’ve got to get there early and just see this whole thing begin to build up. The anticipation was so palpable. The idea that I had tickets for another show and thinking, ‘Oh, god! I can hardly wait.’ All the planning and all the anticipation. And the hotel room and the flight and talking to your friends. ‘Are you going to be there? Let’s share a hotel room. How many can we get in a room?’ There’s just nothing like it.”
And from the interviews I’ve done so far, it sounds like a lot of other people feel the same way. All across the country, people plan road trips and meet-ups with old friends. For some of you, your only chance to see these friends is at the summer shows. So, in the end, it’s about a lot more than just seeing phenomenal live music. That’s what brings everyone together in the end, but it’s so much more than that. I’ve also found that this is the big difference between European shows and American shows. Because DMB plays Europe less frequently, fans there haven’t had the chance to develop the ritual, regular meet-ups that we have here in the States. Nearly twenty years of consistent touring provides a whole lot of time for traditions and friendships to take root. It’s amazing to me how many of those have grown from DMB. We’re very, very lucky and I can hardly wait for another summer filled with traveling adventures, good friends, and phenomenal music.
