[photogallerylink id=87260 align=left]When Dave Matthews announced in April that the band would be staging their DMB Caravan at Chicago’s Lakeside, no one knew the site of the former US Steel South Works was a music venue. It wasn’t, not yet. Once the dirt and rubble field filled with wood-chips, the stages stood sturdy, the speakers hung ready, the venders’ staked their tents, and the box office opened, Lakeside was ready for three days of musical festivities.

The Caravan boasted three stages (Slip, Lakeside, South Works) named not after sponsors, but for the city who hosted them. Across three days, those three stages saw many familiar faces and heard many familiar sounds from XRT’s library. Situated behind the South Works main-stage, XRT caught the backstage scoop from the Caravan’s side-stage acts, main-stage openers, and from Dave himself.

[photogallerylink id=87346 align=left]Marty Lennartz kicked off the weekend coverage with jazz-, folk-, and blues-infused singer-songwriter Amos Lee before his live set. Watch as the former schoolteacher talks with Marty about performing at the White House, playing in hospitals, and his latest disc Mission Bell. Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers also stopped by before their set to sit for a quick chat about their latest album Go-Go Boots and the Caravan festival.

[photogallerylink id=87452 align=left]Immediately following the final chord of his set, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ Alex Ebert walked off stage, and right into XRT’s tent where he kicked his feet up and made himself comfortable talking about consistant tours and “living, breathing, and eating music” in a conversation with Marty. Sandwiched between Edward Sharpe and Dave Matthews Band’s headlining set sat Ray Lamontagne, but he wasn’t sitting still. Shaking things down, Lamontagne and his band cut into a deep groove on “Repo Man” that left the crowd excited for the energy that would follow in DMB’s closing set.

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