21 Years Ago Today, The Dave Matthews Band Made Gross $200,000 History

The Dave Matthews Band, founded in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991, has been going strong for more than 30 years.

The American rock band, founded by singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and backing vocalist Carter Beauford, violinist and backing vocalist Boyd Tinsley, and saxophonist LeRoi Moore, is one of the most popular rock bands in recent U.S. history. The band has seven No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, while it's never had a No. 1 single.

While The Dave Matthews Band is known for its music, it's also known for an infamous bathroom-related incident, that made history 21 years ago today in Chicago, Illinois.

On this day in history, The Dave Matthews Band agreed to pay $200,000 for its tour bus mistake in Chicago, Illinois.

During the middle of a 2004 concert tour, The Dave Matthews Band tour bus decided to empty its human waste - a.k.a. bathroom material - into the Chicago River. The tour bus was parked on the Kinzie Street Bridge in downtown Chicago, when 800 pounds of human waste were dumped onto an open-air passenger sight-seeing tour boat, which was traveling on the river underneath the bridge.

"Witnesses told police they saw a long black tour bus dump the liquid waste. One witness gave Chicago police an Oregon license plate number that belonged to the 2003 Monaco Royale Coach driven by Jerry Fitzpatrick, who had been Matthews' tour bus driver for three years at the time," the Chicago Tribune reported.

The incident happened in 2004, but on this day in history in 2005, the band agreed to pay $200,000 to the victims. The band had already donated $100,000 to two different groups that protect the river and its surroundings.

The driver of the tour bus, Stefan Wohl, was alone on board the bus at the time of the incident. He was fined $10,000.

The Dave Matthews Band kept apologizing for years

In 2009, Matthews said he would keep apologizing for as long as he had to.

"I'll apologize for that as long as I have to," he said in 2009.

"The bus driver lost his job, and I didn't have my finger on the button, but it was one of our buses -- wasn't mine -- but it was one of the buses in my employment and so I feel bad about it," Matthews said. "It would be funnier if it was anyone else but me."

Matthews said that he was on a plane when he heard about what happened. He immediately felt terribly.

"I regret that enormously, and I know some people there accept my apology and other people don't, but I can't do anything about it now," Matthews said. "If Snoop Dogg had done it, it probably would have raised his record sales, but it applies differently to everybody."

The Dave Matthews Band will be back on tour this summer. In January, the American rock band announced its Summer 2026 Tour, which begins in May in Memphis, Tennessee.

Hopefully, there won't be any tour bus incidents this summer.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Apr 30, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 11:15 AM.