Julia Roberts’ one and only favourite band of all time: “We are lifelong fans”
Although she hasn’t had what might be termed a ‘hit’ in about ten years now, Julia Roberts is still, according to surveys, the most popular actor in the US, so it’s somehow fitting that her favourite band is also one that’s often described as America’s favourite.
That band would be the Dave Matthews Band, the rock-funk fusion group that used to be loved by pot-smoking college students in their late teens and is now loved by exactly the same people, only these days they don’t smoke pot, they have to be home by 11 to relieve the babysitter, and they’ve paid $350 a ticket to stand in a roped-off section at the gigs.
Roberts would certainly count herself as an ‘early adopter’ where DMB are concerned, and that was one of the reasons she was picked as a special host to induct the group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, back in 2024. Roberts, who once starred in the band’s video for ‘Dreamgirl’, told the audience: “The first time I ever danced with my husband was almost 25 years ago to a Dave Matthews Band song, and that was a winning combination as I have been swooning over my husband and this band ever since.”
It marked 33 years since Dave Matthews formed the band in 1991, since which time they’ve sold more than 30million albums in the US alone, and sold very nearly as many concert tickets. Their debut album, Under the Table and Dreaming, went six times platinum. They tend to have obsessive fans who will follow them from state to state, year after year, often identifiable by the band’s ‘fire dancer’ logo sported as a sticker on the back of a car.
Roberts continued her speech, adding, “Fans of the Dave Matthews Band, we’re not just fans, we are lifelong fans. Avid, ardent fans, devoted fans, walk-heaven-and-earth-to-be-there fans”.
So she quite likes them is what she’s saying basically. And that’s understandable, because if you dig past some of the easy listening fare that often gave them their biggest hits between the 1990s and mid-2000s, DMB are capable of incredibly beautiful, accomplished songs, like ‘Crush’, ‘Stay or Leave’, ‘Come on Come On’ and ‘So Damn Lucky’.
On the other hand, Roberts is probably going to be able to put a pause to the fact she’s not had a real box office smash for some time because she’s about to film Ocean’s 14, the heist movie that will reunite the original cast of frankly ludicrously famous actors, including Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and George Clooney.
She has also revisited the world of one of her big 1990’s successes, Conspiracy Theory, for a new movie alongside Elizabeth Olsen called Panic Carefully, which promises to be a tense thriller about a hunt for a cyberterrorist.
The last time she had a movie that really troubled the records at cinemas was 2017’s Wonder, the family drama with Owen Wilson about a boy with a facial disfigurement who gets bullied and has to wear a space helmet. It was way too upsetting for anyone with 1) a kid or 2) any empathy whatsoever to sit through without sobbing but was a resounding success regardless, with crowds and critics alike, bringing in more than $300m at the box office and being nominated for a host of industry awards.
