Following the announcement on the official Dave Matthews Band web page, questions are flying about how festival planners could handle the transportation of tens of thousands of people across the New York Harbor.
 Over the July 4th weekend in 2000, New York took part in the Opsail Millennium Celebration. Opsail and the International Naval Review allowed attendees from all over the country to gather in the New York harbor and climb aboard ships sailing in from around the world.
On July 6th of 2000, "The Fourth Tenor" Andrea Bocelli performed with Cirque du Soleil and the New Jersey Symphonic Orchestra at Liberty State park for over 12,000 fans.
Over the course of the weekend Opsail 2000 and the performance by Andrea Bocelli required the mass transportation of tens of thousands of sailors and civilians. A majority of this traffic was handled by NY Waterway
NY Waterway is the largest privately held ferry service in the United States and "has the largest ferry and excursion fleet in the NY." In October of 2003 the  company ferried fans of Bruce Springsteen to and from the show offering to "...get everyone dancing in the aisles with Springsteen
CDs, and passengers can enjoy hot dogs, beer and soda from the snack bar on board."
A spokesperson for NY Waterway has confirmed that the fleet of ships is capable of moving "seventy thousand people in a matter of hours." When asked whether the company would handle a large event over the July 4th weekend at Governors Island this person said that there had been talk of something for that weekend, but declined to comment further.
Will the DMB Weekend Festival take place on Governors Island? There still lacks conclusive evidence, and the only way to know for sure is to wait for an announcement from DMB. Logistically, could a festival sized group of people be transported to and from Governors Island over the July 4th weekend? Yes. It could.
> Read The History: DMB: Step Into The Light, New Revised 2nd Ed. |
