In just eleven days, the 2004 Dave Matthews Band Summer Tour will be kicking of in Maryland Heights. Many fans are wondering if DMB will be whipping out new tunes this tour.
 Dave Matthews entered a Seattle studio in early February to begin hatching ideas for the new DMB album this year. Soon after he joined Boyd, Carter, Stefan and LeRoi in their new Charlottesville studio.
One hope held by fans is an immediate injection of new material into the setlists. During the Summer 2000 tour, DMB confidently debuted Sweet Up and Down and Grey Street on the first night of the tour. They also played Bartender and Digging a Ditch as a full band for the first time.
This level of confidence may not be present this year. The Summer 2000 tour also marks the last time they came together to collaboratively form a new album--and it resulted in the unresolved Lillywhite Sessions. Dave will play his final Dave and Friends show at Bonnaroo on June 11th. Stefan has made comments (see ESPN Interview 1/27/04) some fans interpret to be hostile to this solo venture.
Perhaps more realistic would be to get setlists largely made up of older material with a smattering of new songs brought in over the course of the tour. You Never Know was the only new song written and recorded on Busted Stuff and was introduced on the third date of the tour.
DMB has a good catalogue of unreleased songs they could solidify into the new record. JTR specifically hasn't been played since 8/28/2001. It would be a welcome part of a new record and make a grand re-introduction into a live performance.
Butterfly was first performed by Dave and Friends this past December, but was finished and recorded for the movie Because of Winn-Dixie. Despite the likelihood that songs played by Dave and Friends will not be played by DMB, this could also easily be integrated into the new album and Summer Tour.
In his most recent interview, Dave said that Before These Crowded Streets was the band's best album yet, and that "it had a lot of surprises." Let's hope this tour does as well.
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