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Readers share photos, memories of Dispatch at the 2004 Hatch Shell concert
On July 31, 2004, a Dispatch farewell concert drew 110,000 fans to the Hatch Shell. We asked attendees what they remembered about the day.
From its inception, Dispatch promoted love, community, and peace through their music. These themes showed to be true on July 31, 2004, at what the band imagined would be a small-scale farewell performance at the Hatch Shell for fans.
Instead, the show drew 110,000 attendees who jammed out with the indie-roots band, far surpassing the estimated 50,000 who attended a Green Day concert ten years prior at the same location.
The event was “bootstrapped” together, according to band manager Steve Bursky. They ended up making last minute calls for extra security and police presence to ensure safety and manage traffic.
“The day itself I know was a blue moon. So I love that expression: once in a blue moon,” founding member, bassist, and vocalist Pete Francis Heimbold told Boston.com in an interview about the 20th anniversary of the performance.
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Prior to the event, Dispatch had not played for more than 5,000 people at a single show, according to Bursky.
The night before the concert, Bursky remembers driving to his hotel and seeing thousands of loyal fans already camped out, anxiously waiting to see the band’s historic performance.
The crowed continued to expand over the course of the next day, shocking the entire Dispatch crew.
“The first song, I felt like my hands were two blocks of ice and it probably sounded like an absolute car crash. So yeah, I was nervous, but I think after a few songs we settled in,” Heimbold told Boston.com.
After the concert, fans reveled in the festivities. Chad Stokes Urmston, founding member, guitarist, and vocalist, recalled hearing stories that attendees spilled into Boston bars after the show singing their songs and even throwing a mini “afterparty” near Storrow Drive.
“The Boston music scene has always been so vibrant and I think Dispatch will always hold a place in history,” said Bursky.
In honor of the concert’s 20th anniversary, Boston.com asked readers to share their photos and experiences. Here’s a sampling of what some readers had to say about the day.
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Some responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
‘I was only 16 years old and it was my first unsupervised trip’
“I traveled to Boston to go to the concert from Houston, Texas, with two of my high school buddies. I was only 16 years old and it was my first unsupervised trip with no adults. We didn’t make any plans that Saturday [and we] got there first thing in the morning, it was the perfect day for a concert.
“I remember waiting in line to buy merch and get autographs from the guys. [I]t was awesome to meet them in person. The energy was so positive and I think everyone knew this was a historic event from early on. I remember they had their van ‘Wimpy’ set up behind the merch tents at the back of the park. That was cool to see in person as I had bought the ‘Gut The Van’ live album a year or so before.
“The park started to get more crowded so we decided to secure our spots about 100 feet from the stage. I remember thinking how it was nice that people weren’t crowding us or invading our space. There was a lot of mutual respect for everyone there.
The actual concert was just a wild experience, it was all a blur. I definitely remember seeing folks perched up in the trees and of course the hilarious water bottle toss. They saved their hit song “The General” for last. I remember just [feeling] ecstatic, singing along with Chad as loud as I could, and then everyone started jumping in unison as they rocked out to close.
After the show, people hung around the park for a while, relishing in the experience and waiting for the massive crowd to disperse. I knew this would be the best concert I would ever attend in my life, which is a weird thought to have as a 16 year old.”
– Justin B., Houston, Texas
‘We eventually ended up sitting in thex middle of Storrow Drive’
“It was the summer after I graduated from Merrimack College and some friends and I took the Commuter Rail into town. As college students in the early 2000s, we had first been exposed to Dispatch through Napster and had become big fans going to smaller shows around MA.
“At the Hatch Shell, the lawn was fun, but also packed and hot, so we eventually ended up sitting in the middle of Storrow Drive. I’ve since moved to the DC area and it turns out some of my closest friends here were also at the concert after they drove up from Virginia. It’s been really fun this week reminiscing with both my college friends who I went to the show with and my local friends in Northern Virginia (who I see Dispatch with every time they’re in the area!). We’re all in our 40s now and parents of young kids, with very different lives than we had in the summer of 2004, and it’s pretty special to have this shared core memory of a fantastic concert.”
– Jessica, Reston, Va.
‘Still the largest concert I have attended’
“I had just graduated from Duxbury High School in June. Me and three other kids drove up to meet up with about 100 other kids from Duxbury at the Braintree T station. The train ride was crazy because there was a lot of Captain Morgan going around. We set up shop on Storrow Drive and were in awe of how many people were there. Dispatch was like our High School party soundtrack and Napster helped it. Still the largest concert I have attended out of 439.”
– Chris M., Somerville
‘I’ll never forget walking down the middle of Storrow Drive’
“I’ll never forget walking down the middle of Storrow Drive after the show with a huge crowd of people.” – Colleen, Somerville
‘So much kindness and joy that day’
“My brother, two best friends, and I drove up the night before from PA. I was 17 and couldn’t believe my parents let my 20 year old brother take me, but I think they could tell it was a moment we couldn’t miss. We got to the park early in the day just to check things out and there were so many people, we realized we had to stay. We bought shirts and got one of them signed for a friend who was deployed at the time.
We spent the day on the docks with our feet in the river. There were lots of free sample CDs. There are still bands I listen to that I discovered from those! We found a spot right behind the family and friends VIP area. During the show, the VIPs were getting free snacks and ice cream, and some of them started handing them over the fence to us (we were tall) to pass out. They made us heroes in the crowd! During the encore, some of the family had cleared out to beat the exiting crowds and those that remained they told us to hop the fence to watch from the front. So we closed out the show right along the front fence. There was just so much kindness and joy that day from everyone we met.”
– Steve, Decatur
‘We made it to the second row up to the gate’
“It was sweltering hot and humid that day! We drove up the night before to stay with my brother in South Boston. We partied hard but knew we had to get up at 7:00 a.m. to get in line with our canned goods to get into the concert.
“Canned goods in hand we hopped into my best friend’s mini van and left Southie on our journey to the Hatch Shell. We ended up getting so lucky finding a spot near a 7-Eleven. I remember swarms of people walking and the streets were just starting to get full, but nowhere near the 100k. We start walking with our canned goods and are noticing no one else has them. Dispatch had said it was a canned good for 1 ticket. That rule went out the window. But we made sure that we found the canned good station and made sure they took our Chef Boyardee and peas.
“It was pretty damn packed at this point and hotter than anything. What next? Jump into the Charles before the concert to cool off. Big mistake…the Charles felt like a hot tub of motor oil. We got out feeling slick and we were ready to make it up front. Gently pushing and shoving we made it to the second row up to the gate. The people up there were handcuffed to the gate and weren’t leaving. In position, the concert started and the most magical madness ensued. I remember half of the lawn was still visible before it started. After getting hit in the head by a gallon of water, a human leg riding the top of my head, lifting a girl and having her crowd surfed to the medical team, to the biggest ‘cigarette’ I’ve ever seen in my life, to the feeling of 100k people leaning in, I’ll never forget this night. The photo I’m attaching is from “Carry You.” You can see my best friend Alex in his enormous green bucket hat.
– Peter and Alex, New Britain, Conn.
‘The water bottle war was amazing to see’
It was my first Dispatch show. I only learned about the band from file sharing after they broke up so I had to go. A close female friend of mine loved the band too so I drove from Maryland to New Jersey to meet her, and then on up to Boston. I don’t remember where we parked but we took the train in and walked to the Hatch Shell. We were somehow able to get spots like 100 [feet] from the stage, got some merch, took pics with Wimpy, and had a blast. The water bottle war was amazing to see. We were dying from the heat so I picked up a thrown bottle to dump on my head only to discover it was vodka. It was the most amazing show I’ve ever experienced and I’m thankful it wasn’t the “Last Dispatch.”
– Bob J., Dexter, Mich.
‘I had taken my t-shirt off because of the heat and the excitement’
I had just graduated from Gloucester High School, and my friends and I wanted to do a big Boston concert before going our separate ways for college. We got to the Hatch Shell around 7:00 a.m. and got spots only behind the heroes who camped out to be front row. We knew the weather was going to be brutally hot, so we packed responsibly (especially for 18 and 19 year olds) with water, Gatorade, snacks, and sandwiches to tide us over until the concert that night. Throughout the day, more and more people kept arriving. I have this distinct memory of it being swelteringly hot around 2 or 3 p.m. and people attempting to cool off by jumping in the Charles. My friends and I knew better. The concert was one of the best of my life, even 20 years later. I remember the bottle fight, and it was as magical in the crowd as it looked from the stage. My slight brush with fame came later when “The Last Dispatch” album came out and I could pick myself out on the inside album cover. It was a photo of the crowd, and I had taken my t-shirt off because of the heat and the excitement. I was about to start my freshman year at Saint Anselm College, so my college t-shirt in clear contrasting letters over my head made me easy to spot.”
– Chris, Gloucester native
‘Time flies!’
“Can’t believe this was 20 years ago! Time flies!”
– Lindsey C.
‘I can’t believe it’s been 20 years!’
“I was 17 and many friends were excited to go. We knew it would be a big event, but no idea it would be as big as it was. We were stage right near the trees. We got there fairly early, but not early enough. It was a wild and fun show. I can’t believe it’s been 20 years!”
– Ryan K., Medfield
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