DISPATCH is unique. They are a rare example of how a breakup can take a band to new heights. During their last tour, in 2002, they were playing nice sized venues such as Lupo’s in Providence and Terminal 5 in New York. After a nine year break from serious touring, the legendary grass roots rockers sold out a 7 city tour that included three night stands at venues such as Red Rocks and the TD Garden. Singer/ guitarist/ bassist Chad Stokes was awestruck about the amount of support from fans around the country. He said “it’s just kind of surreal, your mind can wrap around venues of a certain size but when it gets above 4000 people it gets crazy, you might as well be playing in front of triceratops or something crazy like that.”
DISPATCH should not be shocked by the turnout in Boston, their “farewell” show in 2004 drew over 100,000 to the hatch shell, and when the three college buddies from Middlebury reunited in 2007 to raise money for Zimbabwe, they sold out Madison Square Garden three nights in a row. Those reunions pale in comparison to this year’s tour. “DISPATCH 2011” as it has come to be known encompassed 13 shows around the nation over the month of June. The original plan was for a mere 6 shows but due to the extreme demand for tickets back when the tour was announced in January, 7 more shows were added to meet the need. Stokes said “we just wanted to hit different parts of the country; we were pretty hands on with selecting the locations. The last few times we’ve played, we played only two or three shows, and we wanted to be road ready so we thought we might as well make it a mini tour. We wanted to cover as much of the country as possible.”
When ‘Spatch took the stage June 24th at the Garden, the fans who’ve patiently waited 9 years for the show exploded. The trio of Stokes, Pete Francis, and Brad Corrigan began with a blazing version of the new song, “Melon Bend”. Although most of the crowd was unfamiliar with the track it got a very warm reception and by the final chorus the 15000+ on hand had a firm grasp on the lyrics.
The next few songs were all favorites off of the 2000 studio album “Who Are We Living For”. “Passerby”, the 4th song in the set, had a fantastic jam at the end with some impressive guitar work from Francis. A marathon version of “Bullet Holes” followed shortly.
After a great acoustic section, the main set was concluded with the hard rocking “Whaddya Wanna Be” and ”Bats In The Belfry”. This was the high point of the show, but every song was consistently good, and the crowd was so thrilled that DISPATCH was back that they probably would have been happy with anything.
The break between the main set and the encore was very short, and Stokes, Francis, and Corrigan took the stage all sporting personalized Bruins jerseys. The guys started back up with “Cut It Ya Match It”, a fun, hip hop inspired tune. “Flying Horses”, another old track that has become a fan favorite over the years, concluded the encore.
The very savvy crowd stayed seated, and the guys came back out for a second bow. “Outloud”, mashed up with Simon and Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson” was one the best songs of the night, and got among the warmest reception.
The show felt surreal. I, as well as many other fans, believed that DISPATCH would never tour again, let alone deliver a fantastic show in a sold out NBA arena. That is what DISPATCH does, they break boundaries. Try naming another unsigned band that can play a show like that. What is impossibly true about this story is the way that Stokes, Francis, and Corrigan refused to compromise and are still able to grab mainstream success. This is a true case of fantastic music standing out on it’s own without the help of a record label or the media. This is the best jam show I’ve ever been to, and it looks like with talks of a new full length album on the way, DISPATCH will only improve from here