Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Dave & Tim


So lately, I've been indulging myself in the music of yesteryear (a little used word, in my opinion - I'm bringing it back!) - I've been listening to a lot of Dave Matthews Band; more specifically, the "Dave & Tim Reynolds" acoustic stuff. I haven't found any underlying reason for this current phase besides a pure appreciation for the music, but I'm sure my psychiatrist would tell you otherwise.

Anyways, I've started to notice a trend amongst the fans at these concerts - they clearly have developed this fascination of the use of marijuana references. Whenever Dave mentions anything revolving around the "Celtic Green" (as one of my pothead friends calls it) the crowd simply ERUPTS in cheer, screaming and ranting and raving (and presumably, waving lighters around as well?). Examples:

1. In Crush, the line "Sitting, smoking, feeling high" emits such a roar from the crowd that you would have thought we found out the French just stormed the Bastille.

2. In When the World Ends, the line "We'll be burning one" gets the exact same response.

I get it, folks - you smoke weed too. Though I don't exactly understand what message you are trying to convey here. I've narrowed it down to a couple different understandings:

A. The crowd wants Dave Matthews to not that they smoke marijuana as well, and like it as much as he does, and is saying "see - we are a lot like you!"

B. The members of the crowd cheering to the weed references want to make sure other fans know that they, in fact, smoke weed. By the process of deduction, this equates a certain level of "coolness" to them, and separates them from the "other, non-cool" fans.

So here's my question - is this phenomenon unique of Dave Matthews Band loving crowds, or does it happen at all concerts? I can't imagine people cheering every time (3 times in all) Tom Petty says "Let's get to the point...let's roll another joint" in You Don't Know How it Feels. I mean, isn't that a little overkill? After the first cheer, I would think that the pro-weed cheer kind of loses its allure. I mean, do you think every time Snoop refers to "Smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice," his crowd starts screaming like a pack of girls who spot Justin Timberlake on the street (note: you could also replace "pack of girls" with my 29 year old male, straight roommate, but that's another story)? Pretty sure Joe Fan isn't sitting there saying "Wait a minute, Bob - we like Bombay Sapphire as well - start clapping!!" Alas, this is all speculation, as I don't really have any real information to go by, unfortunately....

Is it possible this says something about the Dave Matthews Band fanbase? What about marijuana users in general? Is it possible I need to cut down on my carbohydrates (I guess that's a personal question)? I do not want to opine on any of this, so please feel free to make your own judgments.

ps - Did I catch you with the psychiatrist comment? I bet I did! I don't really have a psychiatrist.....seriously - if you want proof, just ask my psychologist.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

smoke weed, everyday

Unknown said...

Dave Matthews...come on Matty. He's so 2001

Jess said...

Funny you mention this - my prep school husband & I were just discussing this on our drive home from the Alps this weekend. I mention "Prep School" because that denotes a certain drug use (and caliber of drugs) all on it's own. We were discussing how we never have remembered one set from any Dave show we've attended (and the numbers are in the double digits). I assume the cheers are due to the fact that 99.9% of the crowd is off their rocker by the time the show starts. If everyone's high on something, everyone's gonna be like "Dude, he's totally talking about me!" thus the cheers. I can't say I'm one of the cheerers, I still can't remember if I actually made it in to a show. And neither can my husband. Godspeed.

Sarah said...

"I mean, do you think every time Snoop refers to "Smoking endo, sipping on gin and juice," his crowd starts screaming like a pack of girls who spot Justin Timberlake on the street"

I witnessed it first hand, yes. they. do.

Anonymous said...

dude your blog had me cracking up when i just read it. didnt realize you were even writing one. i was at dave last night. my car was broken into in the parking lot. bet it was one of those stoners.