Let's Hope Those Reindeer Are Powered By Biodiesel...
The idea was simple enough- get Dave Matthews to sing a Christmas song (not to be confused with THE Christmas Song, of course) during Night 1 of his 3-night stint with Tim Reynolds in Las Vegas. But could it be pulled off? Yes. And this is the story of the Christmas song miracle.
A post went up with a pair of tickets, really really good tickets, for sale. Golden Circle. The most covoted seats in the venue. There was however, a small catch, a "claus" if you will. At least one of the people using the tickets had to agree to dress in full Santa costume for the entire show!
A pair of friends from Oregon took up the claus, uh, cause, and dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus in the 4th row. Several songs went by with not even a glance from Dave. Finally, after Spaceman, Tim Reynolds mentioned to Dave that they were in the presence of someone very famous! Dave then led the crowd into a rendition of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and a tease of Here Comes Santa Claus.
The duo became so popular after the show, they had to be escorted out by casino security, and back to their sleigh no doubt. The couple even caused enough of a stir to end up in a Las Vegas newspaper. So, if you're famous, tend to bring people presents, and dress in a large red suit at a concert, what happens in Vegas probably won't stay there.
No doubt more creative endeavors like this will occur in the future to attract band attention, and demand song changes. Hey, it sure beats chanting, right?
