Summer in Saratoga DMB
Saratoga stays loyal to a bar band that wrote the shittiest part of the soundtrack of the 1990s
‘Crash Into You’ means that he puts his hand down your pants on the SPAC lawn
It’s not the Grateful Dead, but at least they jam
My hometown of Saratoga Springs has two main passions — horse racing and jam bands. These hobbies converge in the summer, when the town’s famous racetrack opens and Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the historic concert venue better known as SPAC, kicks off four months of shows. SPAC is a leafy, sprawling venue in the middle of a state park that has hosted performances by everyone from Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles to Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd. The mellow, bucolic atmosphere lends itself to a stable of regulars, with the most beloved returning act being the Dave Matthews Band, which has now performed in Saratoga 49 times. Attending your first Dave Matthews Band concert is a rite of passage for upstate New York teenagers, myself included, characterized by the solemn rituals of determining with your friends whether you should attend “Fridave” or “Saturdave,” securing cheap lawn tickets and a chauffeur who will pretend not to notice the weed fumes emanating from your clothing on the …