The Gorge Amphitheatre — DMB Posters

Dave Matthews Band concert posters from The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, WA — 86 prints in the DMB Poster Vault archive.

The Gorge sits above the Columbia River in central Washington, a few hours east of Seattle, and there's nothing else like it on the band's calendar. DMB has closed out the summer here on Labor Day weekend for more than two decades — three nights that turned into an annual pilgrimage. Fans camp next door for the whole run, and the canyon sunset behind the stage does the rest. The band named a 2004 live album after the place, which tells you what it means to them.

No venue has put more posters into this archive. Every night of the run gets its own print now, so one Labor Day weekend can add three or four designs plus their foil editions. Methane Studios carried most of the early years; recent runs have pulled in some of the biggest names in gig posters — Chuck Sperry, Marq Spusta, Dan Mumford, Luke Martin, N.C. Winters. Nearly all of them end up reaching for the same subject sooner or later: that view of the river behind the stage.

Gorge prints are the most chased in the whole DMB catalog, full stop. A weekend out there has a way of turning a casual fan into someone who needs the poster from every night they attended, and that appetite shows on the secondary market — the standout prints climb fast and don't come back down.