In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!
For those that celebrate, the closing gigs to The Dave Matthews Band’s Summer Tour, titled Labor Dave Weekend, are an annual highlight. Three days of raucous fandom mark the transition to Fall in the Gorge, Washington State. Those in The Pit had an extra thing to celebrate this year. After a fan movement failed to get the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, the band was elected this year and their enthronement takes place this weekend. Those fans will have had just enough time to recover from the weekend to get to Cleveland!
The Dave Matthews Band is an American phenomenon, in several ways. Across nearly 3500 live shows that the band and their spinoffs have played, not much more than 100 DMB events have occurred outside North America, and these shows are often populated by American fans on pilgrimage to the host country. Their seven consecutive number-one albums in the US includes records that never touched a single chart overseas. They have, of course, generated a billion dollars of concert ticket sales off the back of legendary, epic live shows. Their presence on the list of highest-grossing touring artists ever is a testament to the energy they can generate.
Almost everything in DMB’s world is vociferously debated somewhere. The role of cover music in the sets is one of those matters. They have included hundreds of cover versions in their sets over the years, demonstrating a vast knowledge and appreciation of popular and not-so-popular music. When you have a world-class, jazz-infused drummer, a rock bassist, a roots-minded guitarist and a vocalist born overseas, not to mention touring musicians with decades of experience, you are going to have a lot to draw on.
Still, there are a group of people who get agitated every time a cover is included in one of their sets. The argument seems to be that, with a vast back catalog of their own, why do they need to play the music of others? That is understandable in some ways. If you made out with someone hot in your college dorm to a DMB song back in the ’90s, and that song doesn’t get played in the set, you miss the chance to fully relive that moment, perhaps even if you are at that concert with the hot person. Every set is different, but your memories stay the same. The covers that the band have played over the years have a rich heritage and history, and the band are not going to stop playing them, and Matthews himself is going to announce and perform them with enthusiasm regardless.
We have chosen five of their most popular covers for your delight here. Popular, in this case, means that they have featured a hundred or more times in a DMB-related set over the past decades, indicating a deep love and appreciation of the source material (one of the joys of a highly engaged fan base is that 30 years of concert sets are archived on the marvelous DMB Almanac). As it is the Dave Matthews Band who are entering the Hall of Fame, we have restricted ourselves to full DMB renditions. Of course, each rendition of the song in a concert is unique, so we may not have chosen your favorite of the favorites. We have a Comments section.
Dave Matthews Band – All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan cover)
From the opening concerts of the Dave Matthews Band, “All Along the Watchtower” has been a staple, with hundreds of versions available, often as an encore, also after some fans have been shouting for it from the second song in the set. This one from 2003 sticks out. With the classic line-up and a celebratory atmosphere, everybody gets the chance to let loose and let fly.
Dave Matthews Band – Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel cover)
When you have as many fans as the Dave Matthews Band has, some of them are going to dislike something about your set. Many of them choose to focus on “Sledgehammer.” However it is perfect source material for the band. The band have written their own songs about sex, so why can’t they borrow from a classic one in the same area? Matthews acknowledges that not everyone is going to like his decision to rock out to this one, but as he is having so much fun doing it he doesn’t much care for the haters.
Dave Matthews Band (with Bob Weir) – The Maker (Daniel Lanois cover)
Daniel Lanois has been an influence on DMB, and the bands and artists that he produced in the ’80s, such as U2 and Peter Gabriel, are touchstones for Matthews. His own recorded work is more reflective and roots-based, venerated by Brian Eno and many jam bands. Here DMB is joined by Bob Weir, and the joy that Matthews shows on his face at the chance to work with a hero is joyous to watch.
Dave Matthews Band – Long Black Veil (Lefty Frizzell cover)
Matthews has said that he takes the Johnny Cash version of “Long Black Veil” as the starting point, but by the time he popularized it further it had already been covered by the Band, Joan Baez, and Jerry Garcia, amongst others. Although regularly played, it sometimes dips out of the setlist, leading to the need for a “liberation,” the Almanac’s term for a part of the setlist that has not appeared for 1000 days. In this iteration the band is joined by The Lovely Ladies trio, who bring a different voice and perspective to the song.
Dave Matthews Band – Rye Whiskey (Traditional, Tex Ritter cover)
The life of the touring musician can make a relationship with alcohol fraught, which makes this Scottish folk song (where we would not have spelled it ‘whiskey’) about the demon drink a favorite of musicians through the years. Matthews has discussed his own weaknesses in that area in the past. Tex Ritter created the canonical version for the US, but Matthews picked it up when preparing a version for the Pete Seeger 90th Birthday Tribute Concert. This version, recorded on a rare foray for the band to the UK as part of their early warm-up for the 2024 Summer Tour, is part of a DMB set, but Matthews plays, sings and gurns alone.
