Dave Matthews Band performs "Crush" on Sept. 7, 2008, at the Greek Theater in Berkeley. The band returns to Northern California tonight with a show at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord, as well as with gigs Friday at the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Wheatland and Saturday at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View. (Courtesy photo)
When Dave Matthews Band takes the stage Saturday in Mountain View, it will mark the 50th time I've seen the group's namesake perform.
However, writing a whole post about that feels uncomfortably self-indulgent.
So, I'll tell you instead about someone else's DMB fandom, a young woman I met recently named Cerrissa Obluck.
For her, Saturday's show will be her 43rd, but that's only counting summer 2010 gigs.
It won't be her last. The Mukwonago, Wis., native is seeing every gig on the band's summer tour, along with her friend and traveling companion, Severa.
I met her last week minutes after the conclusion of the band's free performance in West Valley City, Utah. The talk instantly turned to DMB.
I asked her what everyone asks me: Why would you see the same band so many times?
"They put everyone else's live show to shame and I know it," Obluck said. "Every time I go to a show, it's like my first all over again. I get butterflies and that (opening song), no matter what it is, just makes me want to scream and dance."
Well put.
When I tell others I've seen nearly 50 shows, I get raised eyebrows, quizzical stares and there was that one co-worker who jokingly invoked the word "intervention."
Cerrissa explains it similarly.
"Sometimes, I think that people think I'm crazy," she said. "I also get a lot of people who say they've always wanted to do this or say they're jealous and almost everyone I have met is so supportive of it."
Number me among those who are jealous and have always wanted to do something like it.
Obluck did not decide to do this on a whim. She started listening to the band when she was 10, around the time "Before These Crowded Streets" was released in 1998. Her plan was formed in 2003, during her sophomore year of high school, when she began saving money for such a journey.
Prior to kicking off its summer tour in late May in Hartford, Obluck had seen 27 shows, including multiple stops at the Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy, Wis., a 10-minute drive from Mukwonago. DMB is a regular visitor to the venue, playing some of its finest gigs at Alpine.
Part of the joy of taking trips to see the band is traveling. I've used DMB as an excuse to visit many major American cities and several countries. I even visited Alpine in 2007.
One place Obluck has never visited is Northern California, though chasing DMB around the nation has given her an opportunity to see America.
"Whenever we have days off, we try to go to interesting places," she said, naming Boston and Philadelphia among her favorites. "Most times, the band stays in a large city either where the show is being played or near where the show is being played and it turns out that most tourist attractions are in those same cities."
When she's not snapping photos at tourist attractions, Obluck has amassed some impressive stats at the shows. The Wisconsinite has seen several songs more than 25 times already this summer, including the group's anthemic "Ants Marching." That might exhaust some, but Obluck enjoys it.
"It's weird because you start to appreciate every member in the band's part in each and every song," she said. "It also makes you figure out what guitars/chords are played for each song and you can most times guess the song before its played."
Frequenting DMB shows breeds a familiarity so strong that, in the space between the shows, there's a warmth. On the worst days, too, DMB's music an oasis of comfort, a feeling Obluck said she shares.
"I know that everyone has had tough times in their lives and I am no exception," she said. "It just so turns out that music is a very powerful cure for those tough times and DMB was my choice to make it melt away."
For Obluck, myself and thousands more, the band has the power to do just that, which is what drives people to see them one time, 10 times, 50 times or enough times to travel the continent to see every show in one summer.
"I just want the band to know that every show is a good time and that I appreciate and love them for their music," she said. "It has changed my life. As corny as it may sound, it has."
Cerrissa, I couldn't have said that part better myself.