Don’t you hate the winter….and isn’t hate a horribly strong word?  The past two months I’ve been completely cooped up in my own place doing nothing musically.  I haven’t been listening, playing, reading or searching for anything at all.  How can someone write on a music blog if they’ve done nothing but distance themselves from music for two months?

After such a busy last quarter of 2013 maybe my brain just needed to kick back and relax; maybe I’m just swamped with school work (work full time by day, university by night) or maybe this hateful cold weather has just zapped my will to really do much of anything.  I really don’t have an answer, but I can at least try to shake off the rust and get things going again.

The first FNS edition of 2014 is going out to one of my favourite musicians from 2000, Dave Matthews.  With the recent news that he would be Bangor, Maine bound on his summer tour I decided that it was time to bite the bullet and check out a Dave show.  With the anticipation of obtaining a ticket (you have to request a ticket and go into some sort of an auction to get the pre-sale) I’ve been listening to some old Dave I had in my iTunes.  The following five tracks would be five jams that I would absolutely need to hear if I were put in charge of creating a DMB setlist.

1 – Two Step (Crash, 1996)

 

2 – The Stone (Before These Crowded Streets, 1998)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73e7KrsEs1o

 

3 – Jimi Thing (Under The Table and Dreaming, 1995)

 

4 – #40 (Listener Supported, 1999)

 

5 – Crush (Before These Crowded Streets, 1998)