3 -- Dispatch – Sunday, July 15, 2007 – Madison Square Garden – NYC

Behind the Music

Dispatch broke up in 2002. In 2004, they came back together for a final reunion concert, entitled "The Last Dispatch." Held at The Hatch Shell, an outdoor concert venue in Boston, the concert was expected to draw 10,000 to 30,000 people. It ended up drawing 110,000 people, becoming the largest independent music concert in history.

Unfortunately, I started listening to Dispatch in 2005 -- after they'd broken up and had this last hurrah. I kept reading about what incredible live performers they were, but assumed I would never be able to see them live.



Fortunately, bands almost always lie when they say they say they're done. On January 5, 2007, "former" band members announced a reunion concert at Madison Square Garden, entitled "Dispatch: Zimbabwe." All of the money raised from ticket sales would go directly to charity -- primarily, charities designed to fight disease, famine, and social injustice in Zimbabwe, where band member Chad Urmston lived during college. Five days later, tickets went on sale. The show sold out in less than a half hour. The band soon added a second date. That sold out by the end of the day. Then they added a third -- which sold out as well. The band that never had a recording contract, that had been broken up for five years, sold out three straight nights at Madison Square Garden.

http://www.last.fm/music/Dispatch/_/Flying+Horses

All of this may have been impressive, but it was not good news for me. It meant there was no way I'd be able to secure a ticket.

Remarkably, though, when I went to the Madison Square Garden box office to check for White Stripes and Muse tickets, a Dispatch ticket was available. I checked to see if there were two, three, or four tickets available in case I wanted to go with someone, or in case I wanted to raise…uh…charity money on eBay, but there was not. There was only one ticket available. Wow.

I was in.

Any minor criticisms before I heap praise?

Hmm...I would have loved to have heard "Hey Hey" and not to have heard band members' "current" songs, but those are minor quibbles. No one at the concert had any right to complain.

The rest of the concert

A 25 song set!

3 band members, 4 bongo players, 20 Zimbabwean children, and 20,000 pink popped collars....all sang in unison....for eight minutes...in Shona, the language of Zimbabwe!!! “Elias” rules.

http://www.last.fm/music/Dispatch/_/Elias



Grade: A+