I have just completed the summer of my life, and month of my life, and a few days ago I had the birthday of my life. I wanted to share with you my thoughts on one aspect of that summer, that month, and that birthday… the 8 Avett shows I attended!! So here goes…

In August of 2009 an interest became and obsession. A fixation became a passion. A hobby became a lifestyle. Ok, so maybe it was already an obsession, and a passion, but AugVETT was definitely the time it became a lifestyle. On the 6th of August I cut the ties and jumped the tracks, and began a journey that would take me to 6 states, in 24 days, while traveling some 10,000 miles following my favorite band. On this journey I met more people than the president, I traveled to three states I’d never been to before, and I experienced more love, kindness, and generosity than one man could ever deserve. I am without a doubt the luckiest man on the planet, and my story starts in Charlotte.

My good friend Ben Hanke-Hills and I hopped the red eye out of Portland on the evening of August 6th, and arrived in Charlotte bright and early the next morning. After securing a rental car, and picking up our friend Chilixx, we set out to sight see in the place where the Avett Brothers got their start. Driving around Concord was surreal, and yet comfortable. In some weird way I almost felt like I knew this country. It was great to see the home town of the musical friends who have brought so much to my life, and it provided that prefect beginning to my crazy month long adventure.

The evening of August 7th brought more Avett craziness, as we met the film crew at Tavern on the Tracks in down town Charlotte. I don’t know if we had any idea what we were getting ourselves into before we arrived, but it turned out to be an amazing time. Getting to sit around with 20+ people I’ve never met before and talk about the Avett Brothers was amazing. Not to mention the sing-alongs!! Taking part in that project was very special to me, because it gave me another chance to express my gratitude and love for the band. What a fun night!!

Saturday August 8th would bring my first show of the month, but not my last. In one of the many triumphs of the month, our group of 2 Oregonians, a Washingtonian (DC), and a Bostonian were the first ones in line at the Bojangles Coliseum that day. We would spend some 11 or so hours in line before doors opened, but it was all worth it when we took our places right in front of Scott and Seth. The time in line was passed by meeting, and talking with dozens of people. Avett love is a beautiful thing, and there was plenty of it in the air that day. I met more beautiful people that day, than I seemingly had met in my life proceeding that day. Brett Dennen was a good opener, though I could have done without the hip dancing, and to be honest, I just really wanted to fast forward to the headliner. TAB bounced on stage, and began slamming the gears on a month of concerts. Matthews began this ride, and what a perfect opener!! This wasn’t my most favorite show of all time, but it was a good setlist, and good energy, and what I saw when I turned around during the encore break is something I’ll never forget. It felt like I had 6000+ friends that night, and maybe, just maybe, I did.

The month of AugVETT took a little slow down the next weekend, as I did not attend an Avett Brothers show. The only weekend of the month without one, in fact. I did however spend 8 hours making t-shirts in preparation for the end of the month. More to come on that later.

On the morning of August 21st two bears and a Darling look alike (me, Josh, and Ben) boarded a plane headed for Denver. After a successful flight, and an epic journey by bus and car, we ended up at our hostess’ house in Golden. We took some time to relax, and were listening to music when word came that TAB was going to be playing a live in studio performance in a few minutes. That was just the kick that 3 tired travelers needed, and it propelled us down the road to Boulder with excitement and anticipation. We arrived at the venue 2 hours early to find we had been beat to the line by some long lost Avett friends Killster and Adrian. It was so awesome to see them again, and only served to kick my excitement up another notch. We listened to soundcheck, got some refreshments, and made many more friends while in line. We also made contact with another Portland Avett fan in line, the lovely Althea. Her ear-to-ear smile at the next 4 shows would end up being one of the highlights of the next week. BTW, I’m sorry I ever gave you a hard time about waiting in line, Skittles… Waiting in line is so so so wonderful!!!

The show that night in Boulder is one of the most memorable shows not only of this run, but of a lifetime. Fellow Portlanders Sally Ford and the Sound Outside opened the show, and were spectacular. The improvement between May and August was noticeable, and the new material was great. When TAB took the stage, the art deco Boulder Theatre seemed to exhale loudly not unlike you’d do if you were about to deliver your best right cross. Turns out, a punch to the jaw is exactly what that night turned out to be, in more ways than one. The show had as much energy as almost any show I’ve ever seen. The band was on it, and the crowd was raucous. I’ll never forget the scene as I looked to my left down the waist high stage to see nearly every person in the front row bent over and slapping the stage along with Kickdrum Heart. By the end of the night the sweat and smiles had stained my shirt, and I was completely worn out. We had another show in 21 hours though…

Saturday August 22nd was the Ogden Theater in Denver. Waiting in line for that show was most of the same people from the night before, but we also made new friends too. Denver would turn out to be one of the weirdest nights for me. Sally Ford was again great, but when the boys came out they were visibly tired, and understandable so. This was the fourth day in a row of shows in Colorado, and as I said the previous night in Boulder, was as high energy set as is possible. With tired bones, and voices that were hanging by the thinnest of threads, the boys still found a way to give us an AMAZING show. That night Josh, Ben, and I would get the privilege of 4 songs we’d never seen before, which is a remarkable thing at this stage of the game. Scott would later tell me that Denver felt like the low point of their summer, but as I saw it they were still a mile high. The odd night continued when I vomited in a diner bathroom, and then met the Pop Music critic for the Denver Post Ricardo, and his clan. I’d been missing the opportunity to meet them the past two days, but it finally happened, and they only added to the sum of fantastic people I met on this trip. The night ended with a $70 taxi ride to the airport, and a night spent in the Denver Airport.

After 2 days back in the real world, AugVETT chugged along with a new form of transportation. ROAD TRIP!!! Five of us pilled into the TABMobile and set off on an 1800 mile journey. Boise was the first stop on this leg of the tour, and after spending a night with our good buddy RickerFromBend along the way, we made it to Boise. As soon as we pulled into town we found the venue, and another long lost Avett fan, Colorshow12. Turns out Jon was just as good a man as I remember, and he quickly became a huge part of our traveling pack. Waiting outside the venue in Boise is where we were first asked which band we were with. After going my entire life without ever being asked if I was with the band, or which band I was with, I must have been asked those questions some 20 times in this one short week. I guess traveling with OlyChild, and a Keith Urban look alike (PardonedMyself) will have that effect on you.

The venue was bad, venue employees were jerks, the sound up front was terrible, the crowd (at least around me) was beyond obnoxious, and yet Boise was a great show!! The set started fantastically with a bunch of up tempo numbers, and shifted into the stratosphere when they played Me and God (a song I’d been shouting for since Boulder) 8 songs in. This setlist had it all, and the boys played well that night. They closed that show with Offering, which almost blew my mind. I walked away exhausted, and stunned as I almost always do.

The TABMobile and its 5 occupants pulled out of Boise Thursday August 27th bound for Seattle, and after an exhausting yet memorable 9 hours in the car, we arrived at AvettAddiction’s house. Dusty was another in line of fantastic hosts, and Thursday night became a night to remember. The group became much larger that night as Hash and her daughter arrived, and they brought with them a new addition to our group, Predictability. As all who came before her Liv would fit right in with the group, but she did a better than expected job. A night of partying and camping by a campfire, on a lawn in the middle of Seattle ensued. WOW… How have I gotten so lucky???

Friday August 28th would again be an amazing TAB day. We were in for two shows that day, one free show at Starbucks Headquarters, and one regular show at the beautiful Paramount. Before the noon show at Starbucks I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bob and Joe, and visiting over coffee with them for a half hour or so. They are both great guys, and it was really nice to catch up with them. The show which followed was supposed to be a 3 song, striped down set, but the boys chose to play 4 songs. That set gave us the gem that is the acoustic guitar and banjo version of I and Love and You. What a treat!!! The 4 songs did nothing but wet our appetite for what was coming in a few hours.

The evening began with a pre-game meal organized by AvettAddiction, and attended by 15 or so fans. With the show being a seated show, there was no reason to wait in line, and therefore we had the pleasure of a nice meal instead of sitting in the rain outside the venue. Good food, good friends, and good fun. Once inside the venue, I was immediately struck by the beauty. The Paramount was easily the nicest venue I would see in this run, and likely the most beautiful venue I have experienced in my life. Along with the beauty came excellent acoustics and we were treated to the best sound quality I’ve yet to experience at an Avett show. While it was a different experience being in a seated venue, and not being within “slapping” distance of the stage, it was still an amazing show. We got an amazing setlist filled with tear jerking love songs including a rarity in The New Love Song and an achingly beautiful rendition of My Last Song to Jenny, in which the entire room sat in awestruck silence. My first seated Avett show turned out to be another amazing night in the run. After the show we chatted with Bob, and the crew for a bit, before hitting the I-5 for the 3 hour drive south to Portland. We would sleep for 3 hours before continuing on to the next stop in the tour.

We arrived at the Britt Pavilion at about 1:30 which was later than I would have liked to, but luckily there were only a few people in line in front of us. The afternoon was a crazy and exhausting one. We stood in line for a while before a group of us headed out to the campground to set up camp. After setting up camp we returned to the venue with about half an hour before doors, and set in on what would become a magical night. A portion of our group had been at Britt nearly one year to the day earlier when they had opened for Lucinda Williams. That night it seemed the 5 of us were as loud as the other 1500 people, as no one seemed to have any idea what they were watching. The line at the merch table after their short set was the first clue about what had happened that night. On this Saturday night one year later they played to a full house of people singing along, standing and dancing (a rarity for the Britt), and making more noise than I’ve ever heard at the Britt. As JoshWobble put it “what a difference a year makes.” Before the show could start my beautiful friends presented me with various birthday accoutrements (including a stupid hat, beer goggles, a card, and grasshopper pie), and sang the worst rendition of Happy Birthday I’ve ever experienced. Thank you friends!! You and your love mean more to me than you can ever imagine. We had our tie-dye Colorshow shirts on, and were camped out right up front. It must have looked pretty odd to the others in the venue to see all those people in matching shirts. HAHA. Now it was time for the music, and the show didn’t disappoint. The Heartless Bastards were again great, and thanked us after the show for heckling them the past few days. Always nice to get thanked for heckling!! The Avett Brothers played a sparkling set of new ones, and old ones, and, as I mentioned before, the crowd was superb. I got my birthday request (Smoke in Our Lights), and Jeremy and Sarah got their request (The Offering). The marvelous night of music was over, but the party was just getting started as we headed back to camp and partied into the morning hours. My tour took a two day break after this show, as I headed home to do laundry, sleep in my own bed, and work one day.

Early Wednesday September 1st, I set out from Portland with Predictability headed for Arcata California. The Arcata show would be the last in my amazing run, and would bring an end to the summer of a lifetime. We picked up 3 more TAB fans in Eugene, and beat feet for Cali. At our camp site in Eureka we would meet up 5 more TAB fans, including the two young fans (Hannah, and Payten), and set up camp. That afternoon I felt physically exhausted, and achy. I was also trying to fight off the sadness associated with this run of a lifetime coming to an end. It seems so ungrateful and immature to be sad while still in the middle of such amazing times, but it always happens for me. Focusing on the positive seems like a much easier thing to say than to do sometimes. Anyway, after a pre-game meal and an odd run in with a Portuguese Alabaman, it was off to the venue for some stalking. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to the brothers this entire month, and I was determined to talk to them tonight. It didn’t take too long as a few of us found a way to get back stage, and after watching Sally Ford soundcheck for a bit, we “ran into” the brothers. As always they were kind and generous, and treated us not like we were fans, but like we were old friends. We had gotten a huge treat, and the show hadn’t even started yet.

The show in Arcata would end up being the weirdest TAB show I’ve ever attended. The venue was “cute” but had terrible acoustics for music, as we could here this loud echo off the back wall. Venue staff told us before the show that we could stand, but not dance, yet as soon as we stood they told us to sit. They told us no camera’s, then changed their minds, then changed them back again, and even came over and told me not to take pics with my phone. The boys started out with decent energy, but seemed to deflate a bit as the crowd never seemed to give it back. By the end it almost felt like the boys just wanted to get out of there. Our group got some love at the end though when Scott jumped up from the piano after the last song of the night (Perfect Space) and leapt over to us to give us all hugs from the stage. Seth smiled, waved, and pounded his chest, Joe smiled and waved, and Bob came by for some hand shakes. After what was an underwhelming show for us Avett veterans, I still saw first timers in shock. There was the usher who I had spoke with before the show who looked at me afterwards and said “WOW! What insightful, inspiring music!”. There was the late-twenty-something male who told his friends “I’m selling all my instruments, cause I give up!” To which his friend responded “their harmonies are other-worldly!!” Even on their worst night, they are still the best thing going in live music today.

After the show, all for band members made a point to come out and visit with us outside the bus. They again thanked us repeatedly for the support, took time to sign autographs, pose for pictures, and chat with us like we were old friends. That’s the thing that always gets me about these boys. No matter who their producer is, what label their on, or how big of shows they’re playing each night, there is still not one ounce of the rock star BS. I mean I’ve met people who played in bad cover bands, in no name bars, in no name towns who had more c***iness than them. It just isn’t who they are, or what they’re about. Every time I get a chance to talk with any one of the band members or the crew, they continually amaze me with their kindness, their generosity, and their down to earth goodness. As I’ve said before this is one obsession I have no problem sharing with my daughter because the band, the crew, and the music stand for everything that’s right with this world today. Thank you Avett Brothers band and crew for touching my life with your kindness, your generosity, and your music.

My wonderful run ended with the longest ride home ever, when I took a wrong turn and added hours to our trip. Whoopsidaisy!! Who can blame me though if I didn’t want this excellent adventure to end? Thank you to everyone who made this run possible: Jenn, Rob, James, Ben, Josh, Terri, Kristin, Ricker, Dusty, Hollie, Peggy, and Liv. Whether you helped me with transport, a place to stay, tickets, or just logistics, you all have played a huge part in this amazing summer, and I am eternally grateful to you for that! Thank you to all the people I shared a show with, a spot in line with, a car ride with, or a beer with!! I have met so many beautiful people in this run, and I feel so lucky for it. Each and every one of you touched my life, and I can’t thank you enough for that. Hope I see you all soon, at an Avett show or otherwise!!