🎧 DMB Listening: Live in Chicago 12.19.98 at the United Center

Crew:

Dave, Carter, Stefan, LeRoi, Boyd, Tim Reynolds

Maceo Parker on What Would You Say

Victor Wooten on #41 and The Maker

Mich Rutman on The Maker

Album Cover:https://img.discogs.com/fU-3zPnOgkmxtMoGDSZHCGnUh84=/fit-in/500x496/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-534816-1279720575.jpeg.jpg

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ℹ️ If you ask to a random DMB fan what his favourite tour in 30 years of DMB is, he’d probably say fall ’98 or summer ’00. Quoting “Dave Matthews Band – Music for the People” (N. Martell):

"The fall tour, which started on October 26 and lasted though year’s end, was a sold-out hands-down phenomenal box office blast. Most shows sold out within mere minutes or hours of being put on sale”.

Fall'98 tour in fact, together with the previous summer tour in the stadium, launched DMB at the very top of musical industry: the touring magazine Pollstar releases that Dave Matthews Band was the second top-earning live act of the year, earning an estimated $40.1 million, behind Elton John ($46.2 million).

On December 19, 1998, the band concluded this never-ending year: 114 shows, a spring tour in the stadiums, then a European summer tour, a late summer tour in the States and also some dates in South America, before the fall tour that went all across United States and Canada (34 dates). And it was a big event: for the first time a DMB show was webcasted live, by the Rolling Stone Network and JAMtv. Thousands of people watched for the first time the band online, and of course someone recorded the stream, which was the first pro-shot video of DMB (Listener Supported DVD would be released only the following year).

You can watch the full show video here: https://youtu.be/7_1wtpK79Lc

The show was released only three years later, on October 23, 2001, as Live in Chicago 12.19.98 at the United Center (or simply Live in Chicago 12.19.98), and it was the third live album released by the band (fourth, if we also consider Remember Two Things), after Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 and Listener Supported.

Due to the extreme popularity of the band at that time, the album sold 1’000’000 copies, so it was certified RIAA Platinum on January 8, 2002. In fact, in terms of album sales, it is the third top selling DMB – live album, together with Live at Folsom Field (2002), and behind Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 and Listener Supported (1999), which both reached 2.0 million copies (2x Multi-Platinum).

Despite such big numbers, part of the fanbase was disappointed by Live in Chicago, at that time: most people were expecting a post LWS live album, recorded during 2000 or 2001, with live versions of Bartender and Grey Street, whereas this album was seen too similar to LS. This is an excerpt of a 2001 review (https://musiccritic.com/rock/dmb_chicago.htm):

Shortly after the Lillywhites' appearance on the Web, members of the band promised to sate their fans' appetite for an official release of the songs with a future live album that would include concert staples from the shelved sessions like "Grey Street," "Bartender" and "Grace is Gone" in one form or another. Yet in what may be an attempt to stand behind Everyday and wait a little bit longer before bending to the wishes of the fans, the band chose to release Live in Chicago, which doesn't include any songs from either 2001 release. Instead, it offers yet another version of several songs that have appeared on at least two of the four previous DMB live albums, "#41," "Jimi Thing" and "Crash Into Me" among them.

Curiosities

• The album was produced and mixed by John Alagia (together with Jeff Juliano), at Dragonfly Studios, Haymarket, Virginia. Alagia, the man who could get the better sound from a DMB live concert. And, apparently, he wasn’t too happy about the result. It is not a secret that parts of the show were edited - notably Boyd's solo in "Lie In Our Graves". The overdub of BT in LIOG (and apparently, also in Jimi) took place later, in another studio (Dreamland recording, Hurley, NY) and is clearly visible comparing the SBD to the released version, or more easily, watching the original audio from the webcast. See here https://youtu.be/T6HAuJhiSDc

• Live in Chicago is one of the few DMB albums that doesn't have a DMB photo or a venue photo in the front cover. The cover here is from an old Chicago picture of 1955 (Pedestrians Battling Heavy Winds On Icy). You can find it here for sale.

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- Album Highlights -

There is a lot, in this release, that can be considered an highlight. In terms of guest, performances, sound, we are talking about an outstanding album. But if you ask me to choose what is making this album so special, I will list the following:

- Tim.

- A legendary disc 1.

- Victor Wooten and Maceo Parker.

- The Maker

- The mix.

🔥 “This is our last stop here....last stop in Chicagooo”. The emotion that builds up in “The Last Stop” intro is tangible, and Dave is almost going to explode. The first half of song is so intense and powerful, and ends with a great Roi’s solo, with an incredible fast picking from Tim (and Carter beyond all of that). But probably, what makes this version outstanding is the calm reprise, with a long outro. One of the best versions of one of the best tunes in DMB catalog.

🔥 After an intense “Don't Drink the Water”, we have one of the coolest moments of the night, when Dave says

“I’d like to introduce a good friend of ours that happens to be in town: Victor Wooten on the bass guitar"

Note: this part was cut out from the CD, but you can find it in the video.

Wooten (who had also guested earlier in the tour, on November 21th, with Béla and The Fleckstones) is the added value that makes this version of "#41", which is one of the best ever played, if not the best. About three wonderful minutes of solo, with the crowd going nuts, and Wooten is just majestic.

• After that, "#40" (tease) and the LIOG with the infamous BT overdubbing. A pretty good version, if you can handle the overdubbing: Tim makes actually a great solo in the second part of the song, which is very enjoyable to me.

🔥 Another highlight of the show is "What Would You Say", feat. Maceo Parker. I find quite interesting what Dave said in this interview at Entertainment Weekly, on May of the same year, about WWYS:

"I really didn't like that song," Matthews says. "It was a throwaway tune when I wrote it. So, we just stopped playing it. One time we played it in L.A. RCA said, 'Please, there's gonna be industry people here, please play that song, please!' As soon as it was over; the whole room emptied. I was like, Wow. We're never gonna play that song again!"

Well, they played it in Chicago; and Maceo Parker who guested also the previous two nights (December 17 in Ames, Iowa and again on December 18 at The MARK of the Quad Cities in Moline, Illinois), delivered a great performance for the two minutes that he was given. I didn’t know Maceo before hearing him here. I’ve found out that he is actually a funky sax legend: not only he played with James Brown (“the Godfather of Soul” as Dave remembers in LT40”), before starting his solo career. He also guested with several very diverse artists: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Keith Richards, 10’000 maniacs, and of course Dave Matthews Band; his shows have something in common with DMB ones, since they are (were) usually three-hour-plus marathon performances, authentic live experiences. Maceo Parker’s solo is great, but in the second part he walks away from his microphone (you can see it around min. 46:55 of the video) and the rest of his solo gets lost.

🔥 From a sax master to another one. In Heartbeat intro (here listed as "Pantala Intro") Roi (and Tim) shows his magic. Every intro in ’98 was magic (even if my absolute fav is 1998.11.30 - First Union Center - Philadelphia, PA - DMBlive Vol. 26). If you compare the two version, there are two major differences:

- On 1998.11.30 there is no Tim, just Roi (at his top).

- The mix is totally different.

Indeed, this mix is different, also for the choice of channel: Roi is on the left (usually he is on the right), while Tim in on the right channel; also I find that the snares cover a very wide range, which I like.

• The segue into "PNP>Rapunzel" is excellent as usual, the sound of the band is very tight, and one can appreciate how Dave’s has developed here, sounding much less nasal and very versatile.Last two minutes of Rapunzel are just gorgeous, Roi takes his solo, but the overall outro is a great all-together performance.

• This impression is confirmed on "Stay": the band that night was on fire, Roi and Tim are the two stars (where was BT?). Short but intense.

🔥 Disc2 opens with another epic performance: Vic Wooten and Mitch Rutman join the band on stage for "The Maker", which had only been played once since 1994 prior to this version – and that’s why this became the absolute reference for this tune for a while.

The two guitars (Mitch on right, Tim on the left) and the inimitable Wooten’s style on the bass add a unique flavour to this 9 min version, which is still one of the most appreciated by the fan base. After that, "Crash Into Me".

• "Jimi Thing" comes with a great jam, with Roi and Tim on the rocks. About Tim: A guy that was at the concert commented that "Tim Reynolds was in prime form, up there looking like Joey Ramone up there with his glitter shirt and pants combo on." He slides in the floor like a real rockstar (01:34:30) and let’s anybody realise, one more time, that he is the real star of the night. Top performance.

• TR makes quite special also "So Much to Say". He is so clear in the mix, which I personally like; I think that Alagia (and Juliano) made a good job (well, the editing/overdubbing can be argued), if we compare this mix to other releases of the same period. But here I would like to hear the opinion of the most experienced people here.

• Tim riffs continues in the segue with "Anyone Seen the Bridge" and "Too Much", then Dave introduces "Christmas Song" by saying:

"This is a non-denominational tune, it's just a song I wrote about an amazing guy who got screwed."

It is Christmas time, almost, and there is a great photo in the album booklet, by Sam Erikson, of Dave and Tim celebrating Christmas time on the same night (probably before the show). It is the only photo in the liner that refers to that night, as the one with Dave and Carter is from another show.

• In "All Along the Watchtower" everybody takes solo, and finally we can ear some original Boyd Tinsley, plucking his violin. Wow. What a concert.

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SUMMARY

🎤 Setlist - Fantastic. Disc 1 is a masterpiece, disc 2 is a good one too. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎸 Performance - Everybody is literally on fire, here and Tim is stellar. I mean, this is, imo, probably, the-one Tim show. He really shines throughout the concert, giving a precise sound signature to this album. Of course, in ’98 he wasn’t a full member yet, but he did appear in all the late summer shows and the whole fall tour, and he demonstrates an incredible feeling with the band in this show. Wooten and Parker bring something more, those performances of #41, and The Maker go straight to my "best of" playlist. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧 Audio Quality - As usual, there has been a strong debate back in time about the mix of this release. Some people considers it a bad mix, I am on the opposite side: I find that the sound is full, without being muddy. It doesn't reach the quality of LS, but that is on another level ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Check my other DMB reviews:

Live Trax Listening - Live Trax 19

Live Trax Listening - Live Trax 39

Live Trax Listening - Live Trax 45

Live Trax Listening - Live Trax 53

DMB Live Listening - Greeting from Bader Field – Atlantic City, NJ - 24 and 25 June 2011