One of the most successful touring bands in music history will take a year off, as Dave Matthews Band announced on its website today that they will not be on the road in 2011, following 20 years of non-stop roadwork that dates back to the band’s inception.
“As we feel the excitement building for this summer, we wanted to let everyone know that after 20 years of consecutive touring, Dave Matthews Band will be taking 2011 off,” the band posted on davematthewsband.com today. “We feel lucky that our tours are a part of so many people’s lives, and wanted to give everyone as much notice as possible. We’re excited to make this summer one of our best tours yet, and look forward to returning to the road in 2012.”
The touring break will follow yet another successful summer tour for the band. DMB will headline Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., HullabaLOU in Louisville, and the Mile high Music Festival in Denver, and ticket sales this year are strong, according to according to the band’s longtime agent, Chip Hooper at Paradigm Artists.
“The tour starts May 28, and it’s great to see ticket sales as strong as ever,” Hooper tells Billboard. “I know everyone in the band is excited. It’s going to be a great summer for them.”
Dave Matthews Band has been the biggest ticket seller on the planet in this millennium, moving a staggering 11,230,696 tickets to 547 shows in 2000-2009, according to Billboard Boxscore. No other band topped 10 million in attendance for the period. The DMB gross for that period was $505,447,901, and this does not count Matthews’ solo work or DMB’s numerous festival appearances.
What makes DMB’s ticket-selling prowess even more remarkable among the elite touring acts is they did it without the benefit of extensive international touring, tapping almost exclusively into North American ticket buyers. Five European shows by DMB from March of this year grossed $1,238,445 and drew 21,370, according to Boxscore.