#32 See Dave Matthews Band at the Gorge Amphitheater: Completed

7 September 2009 9 Comments

Walking down to the venue after the rain let up

I realize that I just wrote a post about accomplishing #16 on my list, but I felt this one deserved a mention even though I really did it for the first time a few years back. The Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The venue holds about 25,000 people and the stage is set directly above the Columbia River.

For as long as I can remember I have had friends that would drive up there on Labor Day weekend to camp and see Dave Matthews Band who plays shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Each year I always had to work and was unable to go. Two years ago, I was finally able to make the trip, and have been each year since.

It is seriously an atmosphere unlike any other. The parking lot turns into a mini-city for three days as a wide variety of different people show up for the event. For some it is strictly about the music; there are a ton of hardcore Dave fans out there. For some it is just about the party; many don’t even go to the shows and just hang out with their friends and drink the entire time. For most, it is all about the experience and being able to get out of town for a few days.

sun

This past year was a slightly different experience than years prior. Normally it is 90 degrees and sunny the whole time. This year, on Saturday afternoon the skies opened up and we got poured on for a good three hours, completely saturating everything around us. Although it didn’t do much to dampen the spirits, as everyone there was already had a few drinks in them. Even with the rain, everyone had a fantastic time.

There really isn’t a whole lot that I can say to do the weekend justice. So I will make this post relatively short and just leave you with some pictures and let you see it for yourself. I will say this though, if you are ever up there, security seems to be very lax, as we were able to sneak down to the front 5 rows on both Friday and Saturday night. Makes a pretty big difference when you aren’t stuck up in the nose bleed section!

View from our original seats

View from our new seats

I hope everyone else had a fantastic Labor Day weekend as well. Any good stories? What did you do?

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9 Comments »

Karen said:

Incredible. The view from your “new” seats looks amazing! That first picture is incredibly beautiful, too. I am definitely taking this idea, and putting seeing Dave on Labor Day weekend on my master list.
Awesome pictures!!

# 7 September 2009 at 7:42 pm

Colin Wright said:

Great photos, Sean! And way to cross off one more item from the ol’ list!

# 7 September 2009 at 7:54 pm

Nate said:

Looks like a great time! Love the look from the “new seats” haha. I used to sneak down really close at Boston Celtics games like that, but now they are really good and it’s harder to do that. Anyway, cool post man!

# 8 September 2009 at 9:01 am

Holly said:

This weekend was amazing. Tell me about how you got from up there, which is basically exactly where i was only more toward center stage and right up on the fence, to right there humping dave’s right leg. i’m jealous as fuck.

# 8 September 2009 at 12:23 pm

Alan said:

Great post, Sean. Loved the pictures. I’ve only seen Dave live one time, and it was at Bonnaroo when he played with Dave and Friends. What a performer. I can only imagine how fun the show must have been at that venue–looks fantastic! Congrats on crossing off another goal.

Alan

# 8 September 2009 at 9:21 pm

Sean (author) said:

Thanks everyone for the comments. The trip to the Gorge was fantastic, and Dave always puts on a great show.

We ended up just getting lucky with our new seats. We walked right up to the reserved area, flashed our general admission tickets to the ushers, and just kept on walking. Apparently they don’t check very closely for that kind of thing! It worked Friday, so we tried it again Saturday, and it truly made the shows something special.

# 8 September 2009 at 9:26 pm

Dave said:

I would love to just see DMB in person let alone in a great setting. Lucky!!!

Congrats on another check on the list

Dave
LifeExcursion

# 9 September 2009 at 10:03 am

Paul Norwine said:

I still haven’t seen DMB live and I can’t think of a good reason as to why I haven’t. Judging from the pictures alone (especially the first one) it seems like the Gorge Ampitheater may be one of the better venues to see them for the first time, huh?

I don’t know if you’ve ever had a chance to go to Shoreline near SF but the pics of Gorge remind me of Shoreline…another great venue.

Paul

# 9 September 2009 at 10:41 am

Sean (author) said:

The Gorge is the by far the coolest venue I have been to. I have never been to Shoreline, but have heard it is worth seeing. Red Rocks is another one that I have always wanted to go to.

Dave has played at the Gorge every Labor Day weekend for 12 years or something like that, and people make the trek from all over the country to see him. So it is definitely a great place (if not the best place) to see him for the first time if you are able to make it out there.

# 9 September 2009 at 10:46 am