(Continues from Dave Matthews Band: The Live Releases - Part Three)
 In the summer of 2004 the DMB site asked help from the fans. A new live series was going to be launched and the crew needed a title for the new live releases. A selection was made from a suggestion simply titled as “Live Trax”. Of course, Trax being the name of club DMB performed weekly gigs at during their ’91 – ’93 years in Charlottesville, VA served as a double meaning. Trax, meaning tracks(live tracks/performances) and Trax also served as a one word mission statement so to speak, saying these releases will also convey the roots of this band, the old shows, the legendary performances.
Now with a name installed, the crew just needed a show. It was the idea that this new live series would revitalize the old show catalog for a lot of fans who were not well versed in the classic and somewhat legendary shows this band had put on over the years. It seemed only natural that the first selection for this Live Trax series would be from a small tour which many still consider to be the bands best; the Winter ’98 run. 12/8/98 was released in all it’s glory in October of 2004 as the first selection in these great releases.
With the WH5 Vol. I, and Live in Chicago, it seemed the crew also shared the same opinion as a large chunk of the fan base by releasing more Winter ’98 performances. With heart-dropping performances of Seek Up and #41, 12/8/98 made a great case for one of the finest from that tour.
WH5 Vol. I hosted #41 from this show, and when it was announced that this should would be released there was a great deal of speculation as to how the production would sound. It came off bright and loud, and a lot of things such as Bela’s additions to #41 were heard throughout, rather than just during his solo like on the WH5 Vol. I version. The one gripe with this and a few of the Live Trax releases is the lack of crowd noise the show on this release. It was a bit odd, and seemed as if the production was kept a minimum.
At any rate, 12/8/98(Live Trax I) was a fantastic release to kick off the new live series.
 Shortly after the release of the first ever Live Trax, the crew also decided to put a new spin on the continuous Warehouse disc. Along with the standard 5 live performances the disc was named after, there was also a decision to tack on three more tracks as bonus for senior members of fan club.
This was the first time the WH Disc was split into two; the traditional WH5 and the 3 bonus performances found on the WH8 disc.
Much like the previous WH release, this disc also contained performances from varied years and tours. ’95, ’96, ’00, ’02, ’03 and ’04 were all represented on either the WH5 disc or the extra bonus cuts for the WH8. It was a collection of songs seemingly to round out what had yet to be released on these fanclub discs. Lover Lay Down, Proudest Monkey, What You Are, I’ll Back You Up and more. The highlight of the disc for many remains in the second track. On 12/8/00 Dave slowly strummed the chords to Blue Water and sang the verses right before jumping into a fantastic performance of JTR. What’s exciting about this is the fact that even the crew have not forgotten about songs such as Blue Water, which give hope to future releases featuring full performances of the song, and maybe other classic rare tunes.
With the newly launched Live Trax series and the WH5 adding on bonus tracks, it seems as if the crew were focusing on getting out as much live material as possible considering this was already the 4th live release of that year, and there was one more to go.
 By the time Dec. ’04 rolled around the crew had 4 releases under their belt for the year. The long-awaited Gorge release, followed by the D&F’s summer show, the freshly squeezed Live Trax series kick-off, and the new WH5 with the 3 bonus tracks(WH8).
It took just two months for the next Live Trax release and it quickly became the focus of much speculation. Hailed as the “west coast Central Park”, the Golden Gate Park show didn’t seem to pack the punch of it’s east coast rival show from just a year ealier (9/24/03). Even with the likes of Santana and the ’04 songs, GGP just fell short on a few different levels. Some solid performances but what great songs were performed were muffled by boxy production. There didn’t seem to be much separation from Boyd and Carter or Butch and Dave. Roi, once again, seemed to be on his own level and wasn’t very prominent.
It seemed that Live Trax was mistaken as a venture that would please the fans by digging through the old shows, instead it took a drastic turn as an outlet a quick profit turn-around, by releasing a show that, in the minds of the crew/management was still a hot topic.
The fans spoke the truth by actually saying hardly anything at all. There was less discussion about this than Central Park’s Bonus Disc, which had a decent amount of discussion.
It wasn’t a horrible selection but it just caught a lot of fans off guard who came to the understanding that the Live Trax series would be to promote the great performances of past, not feed off of the market of largely promoted shows.
 By March of ’05, the fan base started to get restless. With no new album at the time, and a few shows being played in Australia, the fan base needed something. Like crackheads, the community needed their fix and the mother-load was on it’s way.
The Hartford weekend of ’00 (8/25 – 8/27) remains one of the finest multiple night stint the band has ever put on. Each night hosted something different. 8/25 promoted the still shining, albeit fading, spark of energy. 8/27, carried the interesting variation in setlist that the ’00 tour promoted, and the show smack dab in the middle had a taste of both worlds.
Seek Up, Bartender, Heartbeat Jam, The Maker, Busted Stuff, some of the best performances of these songs were tucked away in 8/27/00. Whether it be a Nancies opener which hadn’t happened in over three years at that point, or a midset I’ll Back You Up, this show proved that an up and down set of fast and slow can be done right. The production seemed a bit more smooth on this release, than the last Live Trax, but the problem with the lack of crowd noise still seemed to plague this series to a point where a climatic outburst during Bartender or Seek Up was only felt by the music, and as great as they are, they would have been that much better with the chilling reaction of awe and cheers by the crowds during those moments.
And now the battle between which Live Trax was the better began between Vol. I and Vol. III. Live Trax Vol. III was, at that point, the longest the crew stretched back for a release(5 years).
 With the pre-order of DMB’s first studio album in three years, you also got a bonus disc that included two studio B-Sides and three live performances from the 2004 summer tour. If fanclub members pre-ordered Stand Up they would receive the bonus disc with three extra tracks; one studio outtake and two more live performances from ’04.
With what was missing from Stand Up with the ’04 tunes, the crew and management(band) made sure that some of those songs still accompanied the album in hopes to make the fans realize those songs are not gone forever.
Nothing much stood out as far as the live performances go. Sugar Will and Typical Situation were great versions but again, sticking with a compilation of songs from the same tour can often times leave a run of tracks feeling flat and bland with no color or vibe. Also with the selections such as Crash Into Me, there was some kind of confusion as to whether or not the crew were having trouble picking performances from 2004, considering that Crash had already been release a number of times and there were plenty of songs in ’04 that were performed perfectly for a selection on any compilation.
One also as to wonder if the crew had any idea that they were also distancing themselves from the general fanbase rather than just pleasing fan club members, by doing things like only offering exclusive bonus tracks to WH members. While finally seeing a perk such as this, the exclusive tracks offered to fan club members didn’t do much in terms of pleasing the majority of anyone.
Coming up: DMB Live Releases Part 5 - Live Trax hits the Crash and pre-Crash era, Red Rocks finds another release, and a look at what’s to come for near-future live releases. In the meantime, you can view a discography of album covers from Dave Matthews Band at DMBDiscography.com.
Trusted Stuff is a regular column on Dave Matthews Band written by Brandon L. You can share your thoughts and questions about this piece in the comment thread below.
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