Like sands through the hourglass, so are the South Florida summer-adjacent tour dates for the Dave Matthews Band (davematthewsband.com).
Of course, summer unofficially starts early here in the Sunshine State. So let’s just say that singing guitarist Matthews’ touring ensemble has included the iThink Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach between the months of May and August in its annual itinerary for decades.
The Grammy Award-winning DMB, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024, plays at the open-air venue again on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30.
“I think the earliest show I saw them play there was in 2002,” says 61-year-old North Palm Beach resident and superfan Michael Myers, “and I’ve been going to see them ever since.”
Matthews formed the live juggernaut in Charlottesville, Va., in 1992, and the group’s heady pop-meets-jam band approach resulted in one of the signature rock sounds of a decade otherwise defined by rock from America’s West Coast. A native of Johannesburg, South Africa, the future band leader had moved to the United States at age 2 with his family.
Working as a bartender in Charlottesville, Matthews was in a good position to meet people. Fortuitously, two of them were saxophonist Leroi Moore and drummer Carter Beauford. After recruiting violinist Boyd Tinsley and teenaged bassist Stefan Lessard, the lineup was set, and the quintet found a willing audience in and around Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia.
A dedicated environmentalist and humanitarian, Matthews would — among many other things — organize and host a 2017 benefit concert in Charlottesville for victims injured and killed by domestic terrorists during the Unite the Right rally there a month earlier.
The original DMB quintet of Matthews, Beauford, Lessard, Moore and Tinsley recorded the DMB’s studio debut Under the Table and Dreaming (RCA, 1994), a platinum-selling effort that spawned the hit singles and live favorites “What Would You Say,” “Satellite” and “Ants Marching.”
The band’s gumbo of pop, rock, soul, R&B, funk, folk, and ample jazz improvisation quickly proved a lighter alternative to the more brooding national rock scene. And Matthews’ songwriting, deceptively intricate guitar playing, and whimsical lyrics remain its centerpiece.
“Dave Matthews Band is more than music to me,” says Myers. “His shows have some of the most positive messages and positive people attending. And his lyrics speak volumes. They’ve helped me through some challenging and very difficult parts of my life.”
Loyal fans like Myers have remained a constant, likening the DMB to other jam bands with consistent followings like the Grateful Dead and Phish. Like those groups, the DMB encourages fans to record performances, even offering a “Live Trax Series” on its website. Many early live recordings were traded among UV students as the band ascended from local to eventual international sensation, and many attendees will take advantage of the amphitheater’s special two-night lawn seating packages on May 29-30.
The quintet’s sophomore studio effort, Crash (RCA, 1996), earned a “Best Rock Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group” Grammy for the hit single “So Much To Say.” Then it released its darker, understated socio-political masterpiece, Before These Crowded Streets (RCA, 1998).
With guests including banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, vocalist Alanis Morisette, and string ensemble the Kronos Quartet, the group’s final album of the ’90s ranged from the gospel-tinged “Stay (Wasting Time)” to the single “Don’t Drink the Water,” which referenced blood in the water during the slaughter of Native Americans.
As the music industry eventually morphed from major recording labels to streaming in the 21st century, the DMB changed with it. With album sales decreasing in importance, the quintet avoided becoming a legacy act before its time through its versatile live shows, in which songs are rarely performed the same way twice.
Lead guitarist Tim Reynolds and trumpeter Rashawn Ross were eventually added as permanent band members after guest appearances, as was saxophonist Jeff Coffin in 2008. Yet that one wasn’t by choice. Coffin subbed for Moore after he was injured in an ATV accident in June of 2008. Expected to recover, the band’s original saxophonist suddenly suffered complications from the crash and died two months later at age 46.
The 60-year-old Coffin was still a member of the ever-flexible jazz/fusion band Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, having replaced original keyboardist and harmonica ace Howard Levy since 1998. He’s since left Fleck’s group, but maintains a solo recording career and is an in-demand session musician for his ability to play every wind instrument imaginable.
“We were thankful these shows were going to be in May, because we usually tour Florida in July, when it’s even hotter,” Coffin says. “But that amphitheater is a special place. People seem to love us there.”
Coffin’s jazz leanings suit Beauford, the scene-stealing, ambidextrous drummer who was playing with his jazz/fusion band Secrets at Miller’s — the club where Matthews was bartending — which changed both history and his story in 1991. Lessard provides the grounding glue to the rhythm section, and the seven-piece lineup has been rounded out by keyboardist Buddy Strong since 2018.
Strong essentially replaced original member Tinsley, who left the band during charges of sexual harassment. But the violinist appears on all seven albums released since the turn of the century other than the DMB’s latest, Walk Around the Moon (RCA, 2023).
Fans at iThink Financial Amphitheatre can expect tracks from that release, surprise covers and early hits — all delivered in a familiar setting by an unpredictable band that still likes to party like it’s 1999.
If You Go
The Dave Matthews Band performs at the iThink Financial Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach.
When: 7:30 p.m. May 29 and 30
Tickets: $72-$1,342.32
Info: 561-795-8883, www.ithinkfiamp.com