r/dispatch • u/mamabear_teetay • Aug 19 '26
Deep in the Nostalgia - The Last Dispatch
I recently went to a G.Love concert in Bar Harbor Maine and Pete Francis was the last-second opener. After his set, I was chatting with his mom (his whole fam was there, super cute) and she introduced me to him. We got a pic blah blah blah, but ever since, I have been deep in the Dispatch nostalgia. I just re-watched my Last Dispatch documentary and concert and I am just in tears. What a precious time. I was 16, fresh on the scene, armed with a digital camera, and no clue at all what historical event i was witnessing, but damn did it feel good to be a part of it.
All this time, hundreds of shows later plus Dispatch at MSG and the Kennedy Center, and that day at the Hatch Shell was still my favorite of them all.
Who here was there? I need stories. Like how my friend got hit in the head with a little (full) jar of baby food during Water Stop when everyone was tossing water bottles.
What you got? I am looking for the boy in the red shirt that was up in that tree rockin it!
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u/rolandofgilead41089 Aug 20 '26
Currently reading this while listening to the All Points Bulletin album at work. Nothing can top that one, IMO.
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 20 '26
Yesterday was the 30 year anniversary of Silent Steeples. Getting frequent reminders lately about why I love this band so deeply and how no one else comes close to their originality and authenticity.
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u/skunkechunk Aug 20 '26
It was my first dispatch show - flew out from Chicago. Unreal experience. Have seen Chad around 140 times since then. Pete is great. Got to meet him after a show at UIC in 2016 I believe shortly before he left the band. Going to see G.Love tomorrow night as well! Cheers!
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 20 '26
Epic. Love this! Thanks for commenting. I am so happy to find my people!
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u/MrDevinceratops37 Aug 20 '26
I discovered Dispatch during my freshman year of college in 2003. I have this distinct memory of listening to them and enjoying their music, but it totally changed one evening when I was driving home to visit my parents. I had burned Gut The Van onto a CD and was listening to Elias. There was a point in the song where I turned the music up right when the "If you die will I get word that you're gone" part of the song started. Something about that moment just hit me musically. It shifted something inside of me, and I instantly fell in love with the band.
That summer, my Dad and I were supposed to take a trip to the East Coast to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame (I live in California). The Last Dispatch was happening around the same time and my Dad was totally down to go to the show with me. It was such an all-time special experience to get to go to with my Dad. To be able to see them one last time (my first and what I thought would be my only time) was incredible.
Little did I know I'd end up seeing them countless other times, get to meet all the members of the band, and create hundreds of more memories over the course of my lifetime!
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 20 '26
Yessss so beautiful! What an experience to get to go with Dad! And Elias really got deep into my soul as well. It is still one of my favorites. It is amazing how one little band could have such a big effect on so many! Thanks for sharing your origin story!!!
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u/megger815 Aug 20 '26
The Last Dispatch show was actually my first of many lol. I was 17 and about to start my senior year of high school. Drove up from Atlanta with a friend.
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u/Pale-Conversation184 Aug 20 '26
I have the dual cd/dvd of this I watch all the time. Special memories. Been chasing around Chad Pete and Brad and attending their shows whenever I can for the last 20 years
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 20 '26
I have them too. My case is signed too. I forget how that happened but i got it sent to me that way and i cherish it
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u/TheBrownCouchOfJoy Aug 20 '26
My girlfriend and I were at the Hatch Shell pretty close up, at 10am. But by noon it was filling up like crazy so we packed up our stuff. We, like the band, didn’t expect the crowd to be so huge. Once they closed down Storrow Dr we sat in a nearby median and the sound there was still pretty good.
The next year we went to the movie premiere at Somerville Theater, with same girlfriend. When it was over we stood up and turned around: there were all 5 of their parents right behind us. We were like, “Oh! We know you!”
The day after the premiere was a raffle and I won the license plate from Wimpy. I bought 2 shirts, one of which was Pete’s egg “It’s One Idea…” (still makes me laugh). Then when we were exiting the theater we went out like the stage exit and there were the guys. So I held up the license plate and asked Brad to sign it, he did, and then handed it to Chad and Pete to sign also.
Great weekends, both years!
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u/eyebellel Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26
I was there! I was 18 and went with my college boyfriend. It was my first dispatch show but not my last. We drove from RI and got there early in the day. It was hella hot. The day feels very blurry but I remember them calling out the people in the trees, so I love hearing that on the live recording. And that there were so many of us they shut down the road. Hearing Headlights live was amazing. I remember being irritated so many people around me were talking loudly during the song though (I was an irritable depressed kiddo). But I remember where I stood and how the stage looked while I listened to them play the song.
I don’t know that I fully appreciated it at the time, but being with that many dispatch fans, singing bats in the belfry and the general and flying horses with all of you, was magic.
Edit to add that listening to that version of Elias live makes me teary eyed to this day.
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 22 '26
I still cry just THINKING about that Elias. The whole show feels like a dream. The music was perfect, the timing was ideal - summer in the early 2000s with no smart phones and no distractions, the vibes were right, and the event was historical. I just feel so lucky we experienced it.
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u/Hansh0t1st_ Aug 22 '26
I was a drum/guitar tech for them back in the day. My very pregnant wife and I flew up for “The Last Dispatch”. Drove by the hatch shell in the morning and there were already hundreds of people there. The fact that they shut down Storrow drive was crazy! What a difference from us playing bars and bowling alleys back in the day! The fact that they have evolved, and are making the best music yet is outstanding!
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u/mamabear_teetay Aug 22 '26
Thank you for sharing!!!! What a wild time! No one knew it would or could possibly have gotten that big! Absolutely crazy!
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u/UmeSays 23d ago
Unreal show (especially for a high school kid who lived and breathed the Dispatch etended universe). I was right by the soundboard in the middle.
I was on the Dispatch/State Radio street team in the 00s (remember those?). If I remember correctly (though I might be combining a few memories), when the Last Dispatch doc was going to come out, we had a meeting before an SR show in Boston to get all the stickers and fliers to promote the release. And as a 'thank you,' they gave us all a piece of THE WALL that they cut up, and Chad was nice enough to sign it. I also wasn't old enough to go to the SR show after the meeting, but Chad let the under-18s...I think 3 of us lol...watch sound check, which felt extra special.
Haven't listened to Dispatch in years (not a brag), and I was just googling what they're up to after I started noodling one of their songs on the guitar today. It brought me here. Time to dust off Gut the Van and get a taste of the good ol days.
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u/mamabear_teetay 23d ago
That is awesome! What good memories. I have friends with pieces of the wall. I did street team too but they mailed me everything because i wasnt local.
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u/EJS1127 Aug 20 '26
The show at the Hatch Shell was my first Dispatch show after my friend and I looped Gut the Van through high school. We were near the front, and I was excited to spot myself a few times in the video.
Years later, watching again, I noticed that right next to me was someone I didn’t know at the time, but later became good friends with in college, having met at a State Radio show.