Gross negligence: The Dave Matthews Band’s crappy Chicago River incident
The touring lifestyle isn’t always for those with a weak nervous system. Although it might be fun playing music in a room among friends, the idea of having that same energy every night of the year as you crisscross around the globe is enough for people to want to give up on the business entirely or cope by using some chemical assistance. Dave Matthews Band were always creatures of the stage, but one of their mishaps in Chicago was one of the single grossest incidents any rock star has been involved with.
Before looking at the mechanics of the touring lifestyle, let’s get one thing straight: tour buses aren’t meant to be fashionable. They’re supposed to get you from one location to the next in one piece, and even then, a lot of musicians have to get used to lying down on their bunk and end up inadvertently punching the ceiling, thinking that they slept in a coffin.
Even though tour buses can also become great for impromptu jam sessions and writing sessions, there’s usually one rule that should be abided by everyone: NO SHITS ON THE BUS. The toilets on any bus are not meant to hold that much, and if you feel the need to answer the call of nature like that, it’s best to wait until you make a stop to fill the tank up.
Not so with Dave Matthews. As the band made their way to Chicago, the plan was for everyone to check into a hotel and give themselves time to recuperate in between shows. All of that excrement has to go somewhere, though, and the bus driver thought that the afternoon in between two shows would be a great time to empty all of the waste.
Although the band’s bus driver may have thought they were doing the right thing by dumping into what looked like a sewer grate, that didn’t lead to the sewage of Chicago. That was leading directly to the Chicago River, which meant that everyone on the accompanying bus tour underneath was in for a little bit of a surprise.
While the whole thing was clearly an accident, most Chicago tourists were not going to roll over after literally being crapped on. For compensation, many of them ended up suing the band, with the report claiming, “The liquid waste was brownish yellow in colour, and had a foul, offensive odour. The liquid human waste went into passengers’ eyes, mouths, hair, and onto clothing and personal belongings, many of which were soaked.”
Aside from the ridiculousness of the event itself, bus driver Stefan Wohl was found guilty of dumping the waste, getting slapped with charges of reckless conduct and water pollution. While both of those claims are technically accurate, the kind of medical bills that people would have to explain to their doctors about this incident is not something anyone could recover from.
The bus driver may have been charged, but Dave Matthews Band kept everything rolling, delivering their signature brand of jam band rock and roll to their fans for years. Most bands have wild stories that top out at throwing TVs out of windows, but has there ever been any band that has pissed off an audience to this degree?
