Expert: Kristen - 4/1/2005

Question
Hi, I had read in another response of yours to a question, that you had said you had actually met Dave. When I thought about what it would be like to actually meet him I was completley in awe. I was wondering if you could describe the situation of when you met him..where you were, where he was coming from, what was said..I find it very interesting.(the more detail the better :) ) Thanks!

Answer
Hi Rob!  Thanks for your interest in my awesome experience of meeting Dave Matthews!  It was in March of 2003 during Dave and Tim Reynolds' acoustic tour.  I actually had the pleasure of sharing this experience with my mother, who is a DMB fan as well.  I am from a small town near Rochester, NY.  My mom and I got into the car and drove about 5 hours to the WestPoint Military Academy down near NYC, where the concert was being held.  The venue is pretty small because usually Dave and Tim's acoustic shows are small and intimate.  We got there pretty early, so we got to park close to the venue.  We decided to walk around and do some sightseeing.  After awhile, we decided to head back to the car.  As we were walking down a small hill that wrapped around to the parking lot, a huge bus with tinted windows passed us.  I turned around and looked at my mother and she smiled and nodded her head.  See, the summer before, she had seen DMB's tour bus while on her way to meet us at a concert.  The windows were tinted, but she was sure it was them because they were headed in the same direction as her - to the concert venue.  So when I saw this bus with the tinted windows, I turned to look at her to see if that's kinda the same thing she saw the summer before and that's when she smiled and nodded excitedly.  So we ran to the car where I grabbed my camera (thank goodness I brought it).  The bus had driven up to the venue.  A small crowd formed.  There were probably around 20 of us because it was still very early and the show didn't start for awhile.  We ran up to where it was blocked off and excitedly waited to see who would get off the bus.  At first we saw a bodyguard peek his head around the corner of the bus to look at us and all of a sudden Dave just walked out around him toward us like he wasn't afraid, lol.  He walked right over to the group of us and began shaking our hands.  Some people asked for autographs, but he was kinda in a hurry to get to sound-check.  So I was just snapping as many pictures as I could.  He went down the whole line and shook all of our hands.  I was awe-struck, so when he got to me, he said, "Hi, how are you?" and I just shook his hand, looked deep into his eyes, smiled, and said "Hi".  I was trying to take in as much as I could about him.  At this point, my mom was kind of crunched behind me and I didn't want her to miss this, so I said, "Mom, get up there" and I kind of pushed her forward a little.  She stuck her hand out just as Dave had passed us, but he saw her hand shoot out and saw that he had missed her, so he said, "Oh, I'm sorry" and shook her hand.  Then when he was done shaking everyone's hands, he said he had to go, but that the last time he was there at this venue, they had a good show, so he knew this was going to be a good show too and he said he hoped we all had a good time and then he left and then of course I started calling of my friends because I couldn't believe I had finally gotten to meet Dave Matthews and see him up close and take his picture and shake his hand.  I still have the pics of when he was standing right in front of me.  It was a great experience.  I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  Dave was very nice to us and was a very cool guy.  He walked right over to us, totally ignoring the bodyguard, like he just had to come meet his fans - it was great!  I also had another experience last summer at a Saratoga Springs, NY concert where my friend and I were second row and I had brought a sign that said "Carter Is God" on one side and "Got Sticks?" on the other.  I know that Carter responds to signs about him.  So when they came out, he read my sign and laughed and later on in the show, he stuck his hands out through his drums and smiled and waved at me and I just smiled and waved back.  After the encore was over, Carter came back out to give out his drumsticks.  He came right over and personally handed me a stick.  It was great!  Another great DMB experience!  I've been a DMB fan for years and have traveled all over to see them, so I am lucky to have had the experiences I've had and I will treasure them always.  I like to tell people my stories so they can see for themselves that it can and does happen!  Thanks very much for your question and I hope my stories have been interesting.  Let me know if I can be of any further help!