Dateline: 1995. My musician buddy Tim told me to go see a band at The Cabooze in Minneapolis. I trusted him, so I went. Never heard of the band, nor the opener. The cover at the door was a whopping $5. The opening band was on full broil when I walked in. I immediately regretted not showing up earlier. They were at the tail end of their set, 2 ditties left, but they were a jam band ergo long jams. All wearing tribal hippie garb on stage and they were pretty amazing.
Onstage was the largest drum kit I'd ever seen, unplayed. Waiting for the headliner. Must take a long arse time for setup ergo done much earlier. I was there on a 1st date btw, she was ok, never saw her again. Little did we know we were in for a historical treat.
Back then in '95 I was routinely in one of the many bars in what was then music alley in Mpls (Cedar & Riverside Ave area) before it became the crime-laden hellscape it is today. I was at music alley constantly. Cabooze down the street. Thriving local Mpls music scene: Paul Metsa, Cats Under the Stars, Maroons, loads of others). But for me, there was a local band I saw so much I actually followed them around town for a spell they were so good: Tina & the B-Side Movement. Good records but seeing them live was something to behold. Let's focus.
Back to The Cabooze. A long skinny bar, like a city block long with the stage in the middle. Ergo, it was easy to get up close to the stage, which I did. Mainly out of curiosity. The bar wasn't empty but it was sparse. I'm talking maybe 100 people there, with all of us around the stage. I'm so close to the stage the singer was 15 away. He was right there. The band was right there. And for the next 90 minutes I was gobsmacked. I could not believe my eyes nor ears, how good they were. Not just good but spellbinding. Our tiny crowd of 100 was dancing nonstop, swaying, singing, beaming.
In fact, seemingly the entire crowd was singing every word to every song. Not me of course, not even knowing who they were. The band was making their 1st ever visit to MN, ergo the sparse crowd. Just had their debut record out, which I probably bought the next day. But back then they were clearly not well known in those parts. The next time they came to MN they played the giant basketball arena.
So: who were they?
The opening band: Rusted Root.
And, the headliner, wait for it:
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The Dave Mathews Band.