Today marks eight years to the day that founding member of Dave Matthews Band, LeRoi Moore, passed away after complications following an ATV accident sustained at his farm in Virginia earlier that summer. Somehow, DMB mustered the courage to take the stage that night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, delivering one of their most emotional performances to date.

Bob Lefsetz wrote a detailed account of the moments following Moore’s death, describing the panic amongst all involved. Lefsetz gives a backstage account from the arena, saying that the band reconvened and decided to play the show, coming together with their old school mantra: “Back to the van.” The show was not short on tear-jerking moments, from the cathartic opening “Bartender” that ranks among the best ever played, to somber moments during classic Moore musical numbers like “Proudest Monkey,” “Loving Wings,” “The Dreaming Tree” and of course “Ants Marching.” 

Along with making an announcement to the shocked crowd, Matthews paused before “Sister” in the encore to tell a short, beautiful story of his first interaction with Moore. Matthews describes being at Miller’s, the old bar in Charlottesville, VA where he initially linked up with Moore and drummer Carter Beauford, when he observed a drunken Moore lean up against the bar late at night to play “one of the most beautiful versions of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ I ever heard.” Matthews added, “That’s the day that I fell in love with him, and I’m still in love with him through the thick and the thin.” 

Relive that stirring speech below.