In 2009, the Dave Matthews Band released Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King. This was the group’s first album following the passing of saxophonist LeRoi Moore. Both Rashawn Ross and Jeff Coffin make their first appearances with DMB on this record.

The super deluxe boxed set version of the album includes a EP titled Little Red Bird, which collects four songs that were recorded during the Big Whiskey sessions, but do not appear on the final album. One of these tunes is the Matthews original “Beach Ball.”

The group debuted the song on 4/29/09, about a month prior to the release of Big Whiskey & the GrooGrux King, then played at their next show as well, before putting it away. Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds performed it once in 2010 before DMB offered it up four times in 2012. The song became an occasional opener in 2014 and 2015 with Dave performing it solo acoustic. Dave Matthews Band then played it once in 2020 and Matthews delivered a solo version on SiriusXM the following year.

On Saturday night at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, VA Matthews revisited the tune once again, performing it solo acoustic to kick off the band’s encore. Before starting the tuned he acknowledged “I’ll see what happens…It’s been a little while.”

DMB is off until a show at Mystic Lake Amphitheater in Shakopee, MN on June 23.