Jackie Dechamp

Here is my story: My love for Dave Matthews Band began my senior year of high school. I had just dropped a friend off after school and went inside his house for a minute. He said, “I have this new CD you’ve got to hear.” The first track he played was “The Best of What’s Around.” From that moment, I was hooked. That day has never left me—it lives in my memory as vividly as if it were yesterday.

The album quickly became my personal soundtrack, much like so many of their songs have over the years. Back then, before posters and swag collections, it was just about the music and the friends who shared it. We made the annual pilgrimage to Hartford to see the band, and those shows defined our youth.

As my life grew and changed, the band was always there. Dave concerts were the first nights out after I became a mom, in those fragile early days when leaving the baby with a sitter felt terrifying. The songs found their way into my life in ways both subtle and profound—my daughter’s middle name, Grace, inspired by one of them, or the way their music dominated the playlists that marked every family trip, celebration, and milestone.

With time, money became less of an obstacle, and I was able to see the band more often. Today, their shows are the reason for weekends away in New York City, surrounded by friends I’ve introduced to the music along the way. My devotion is even stamped on my license plate—41ANTS—and I keep band swag in my glovebox, ready to share with a fellow fan when I spot a fire dancer “in the wild.”

I’ve found joy in the online community too—in the friendships built, the excitement of following the tour, and the happiness of celebrating when someone finally hears the song they’ve been chasing. There’s a unique thrill in walking up to a stranger wearing a DMB shirt and handing them a bracelet or poker chip.

For me, the band is a source of pure light in a complicated world. It’s not obsession—it’s passion. It’s joy. Dave Matthews Band has been the soundtrack of my life, from youth to motherhood to friendship, and continues to be the thread that ties it all together.