Dave Matthews Band Fan Site

The 5th annual Kokura Festival that has roped in popular musical bands like Dave Matthews Band and Tim Reynolds, has received such an overwhelming response from the fans that the tickets for the gala event has been sold out within minutes of it going for sale. The organizers say that the local people are very much excited at the prospect of seeing Dave Matthews Band perform in their hometown for the first time. The Kokua festival, which is in its fifth year, has been getting bigger and bigger as every year passes by and the popularity of this annual Hawaiian event is doubled by the announcement of Dave Matthews Band’s performance. This Kokua festival is conducted to educate the local people to know more about the environment they live in and the ways in which they can protect their environment and the organizers seek the support of musical bands like Dave Matthews Band to try to reach out to a larger audience about the protection of the environment.

Dave Matthews Band is no stranger to all these promotional activities, as they have done several shows and concerts in spreading global awareness on various environmental aspects all over the world. The fans that have purchased tickets for the show are sure to get full value for their money and will return home enriched with the knowledge of environmental protection.

A benefit concert by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds is coming up this April at Key Arena in Seattle to celebrate the Five –day event of Seeds of Compassion. His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, will join the singers for an evening of music and compassion. Prior to the start of the concert, a discussion between Dalai lama, Dave Matthews , Tim Reynolds and others on the ability of music to build global compassion removing cultural, religious and racial differences is planned. All the fans and ticket holders for the show are invited to witness the dialogue between these great personalities.

Seeds of Compassion are working to bring the attention of people all over the world, for the need and importance of creating and nourishing the feeling of kindness and compassion .The initiative is mainly targeting the children and to reach the lives of people associated with them. Seattle will see a community- based gathering for the event conducted by Seeds of Compassion. His Holiness, Dalai Lama will be the anchor for this five –day event and will work for creating compassion through workshops, forums, spirituality talks and related discussions. Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds are happy to be a part of this great venture for Global Compassion.

His holiness the Dalai Lama, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds would come together to present to the audience a grand evening complete with music, compassion and conversation at Key arena located in Seattle. The date has been fixed at April 11, 2008. This is a benefit concert that is being held to celebrate the Seeds of Compassion event that would span across five days. The event would comprise interpersonal dialogues between the Dalai Lama, Dave Matthews and other artists on the importance of music in bridging racial, cultural and religious gaps. They would also discuss on how music is a universal language and how music actually unifies everybody cutting across race, gender and country differences. It is instrumental in creating global compassion. This discussion would be followed by the musical concert.

Through the Seeds of Compassion event, the artists would try to bring attention to the necessity of bringing forth compassion and kindness. The initiative begins with children and includes all those who are important in their lives. This five day event would be anchored by the Dalai Lama. The event would strive to create opportunities to build compassion through discussions and seminars, resource fair, workshops and a spirituality dialogue.

Dave Matthews Band is all excited about the new Rothbury Festival which is a different type of music festival for creating environmental consciousness among the people through music. The festival is scheduled from 3rd – 6th July 2008 and DMB will perform on Saturday the 5th of July at the unique JJ ranch resort located in Rothbury, near Michigan lake. This festival is being organized by the Madison House and AEG live inorder to draw the attention of people towards the changes occurring in the climatic conditions and to emphasis the need for clean energy alternatives.

The weekend will witness the performances by other music groups like Widespread Panic, John Mayer, Modest Mouse. 311, Phil Lesh & Friends and Snoop Dogg. The organizers promise an initial lineup of more than seventy bands at the different stages at the venue. Rothbury festival will be vibrant artistically and also offers think tank which includes various discussions involving the scientists, political as well as corporate leaders, writers, and artists to find a solution for pollution and energy crisis. The camp ground for Rothbury Festival will be completely devoid of any waste, as they will make use of many waste removal strategies that are environmental friendly. DMB is only happy to be a part of this great assembly of art and culture.

The Dave Matthews Band has become quite popular especially since their last tour. In 2007, it was discovered that the band had earned at least $41 million in ticket sales. This would rank them at number eleven out of the top twenty bands that perform. They are also one of the most requested band’s at any venue ranking them at number four for most requests. The average ticket price to see a Dave Matthews Band concert is around $48. Many papers and magazines say this is the lowest average of some acts out there. This is a good thing because even though you may have high prices on your tickets doesn’t mean that you are any good.

One of the people mentioned was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Their ticket prices run around $95. The Dave Matthews Band beat them for the top spot of most requested events. Bruce placed on the list at number fourteen. The band earned around $39 million in 2006. So this is an upwards climb to gain even more popularity in the world. Dave Matthews, who was born in Africa is said to be heading back over there to give a concert in Johannesburg. The African nation are eagerly awaiting their son to return to them.

Dave Matthews band was formed in the small city of Charlottesville in 1991 when the lead vocalist and song writer wanted to record a few of his own compositions on tape and for this he sought to bring in some musicians to add more depth into the songs. This was the humble beginning of the Dave Matthews band group and is now one of the most sought after band groups in the country. The Dave Matthews band group is one of the top grosser last year in term of ticket sales. Dave Matthews spent his early years in South Africa and had relocated to the United States after his high school education amidst fears that he would be asked to join the army.

Dave Matthews had been going to South Africa every now and then, but had rarely performed in front of his hometown, the place where his musical skills developed. The lead vocalist and guitarist of the Dave Matthews band surprised everyone when he performed his last stage show of 20007 in Gauteng, South Africa, which was his first public appearance since 1996. He was in South Africa recently on a family vacation where he visited the 94.2 Jacaranda FM station and performed the solo version of his ever popular number “Gravedigger”, much to the surprise of many people.

Dave Matthews Band career graph is on a high as every year passes by and this is clearly evident from the amount the band has generated last year through the ticket sales for the various concerts and tours. The group ticket sales for the year 2007 has grossed about $ 42.1 million which is their highest all time collection so far for their live performances in a year. The Dave Matthews Band is placed in the 11^th position in the touring chart for the year. The band started their performances first at the amphitheaters and after getting a bit popular and gathering a few fan following, the band started playing at stadiums and doing multiple night shows.  As the years passed by, Dave Matthews Band was getting very popular and people started accepting them as a people band as they kept their concert ticket pricing at a very reasonable rate as well as under market value. There were also some premium tickets for sale in the year 2007 for the Dave Matthews Band concerts, but the average pricing of the ticket for their band was around $47. The Dave Matthews Band has clearly made a mark in the music industry and is now one of the most consistent bands touring the globe

Dave Matthews, born in Johannesburg in South Africa is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the world famous Dave Matthews band and has also had a short stint in films by appearing in three feature films. After a few singing performances with local musicians in Charlottesville, Dave wanted to start his own band. The murder of Dave’s sister by her husband totally changed his attitude towards life. He dedicated his performance in Wetlands in New York to his sister Anne in 1994. Dave was at first very apprehensive about singing the songs by himself but later decided otherwise. He formed a band named Dave Matthews Band in 1991.

In late 2003 his solo album “Some Devil” was released and was tagged platinum. In 2004 he won the Grammy award for the song “Gravedigger”. He took part in “America: A Tribute to Heroes” and sang “Everyday” to show his tribute to the victims of September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Dave’s show which was held at the Radio City Music Hall in New York along with Tim Reynolds in April 2007 has been a great success and for the first time the CDs & DVDs were released as a combinations et of Dave and Tim. Apart from singing Dave is into acting in movies, farming and charity.

Dave Matthew Band has major fan following and in 2007 it is able to produced approximately 41.1 million dollars. This band has now reached the 11th position of 20 bands with the highest earnings. The band earned 39 million dollar in 2006 which is slightly less than this year amount. According to a report presented by Fox business, Dave Matthew band is now on number 4th position for the most requested concerts in 2007, which is directly related to their increase in the ticket sales. Unexpectedly Dave Matthew Band outranked Rush and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band; the two bands who staged in 2007 for the major reunion tours. Even they are ranked high overall but they still manage to set their prices of tickets lower as compared to other bands. According to Pollstar article Dave Matthews Band’s ticket price is the lowest in the list of the 20 top band earnings through the sales of the tickets. So 2007 was the successful year for Dave Matthew Band for the ticket sale although the highest average bands and singer are not on the top 20 list. The concert industry is undergoing a loss but DMB manage to survive through it.

For all Dave Matthews Band fans who don’t know how the band was formed, here’s a short history for you.

His real name is David John Matthews. He used to work as a bartender in Charlottesville until 1990 when he met Ross Hoffman, a lawyer who got him to play some of the songs he wrote. Hoffman wanted other musicians to work and perform with Matthews in the song, so he convinced Matthews to talk to another local musician, Carter Beauford, who had already been a part of several bands.

Matthews played the demo of his songs for Beauford, who agreed to play drums in and out of the studio. Matthews also talked to LeRoi Moore, who decided also to join them because he had time in the afternoon. So in 1991, the three of them started to work on Matthew’s songs. However, the music did not turn out great with just three of them. Their instruments were limited, and they did not reach the sound they were going for. John D’Earth, a former bandmate of Moore, Stefan Lessard who was then 16 years old was asked to join the three in order to complete the demo. Eventually, the four began to play on live performances together. They would practice regularly in Beauford’s and Matthews’ mothers’ basements.

In August of 1991, the four rehearsed at an empty bar where Peter Griesar worked as a bartender. Grieser heard them playing, took out his harmonica, and joined them. After doing some songs, they invited Grieser to perform with them. He said yes to the offer and became their keyboardist. He was with the band until March 23, 1993.

The last person to join the band was Boyd Tinsley in mid-1992. The band at the time was not planning to add a violinist to the group, but Tinsley just clicked with them. The Dave Matthews Band was finally formed.