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Friday, February 8, 2008

Music Last Night in Cleveland: Matchbox Twenty

Posted by Joe Tone on Fri, Feb 8, 2008 at 12:54 PM

Although we did talk our photographer into showing up, we couldn't coax any of our snobby-ass rock critics into covering last night's Matchbox Twenty show at the Q. Michael Gallucci was afraid Paul Duccette was going to jump off stage and beat him with his guitar after his story in this week's Scene. DX Ferris just didn't think there'd be enough blood. As for the rest of them, we have no idea, but we presume they were at Music Saves, debating the undercurrent of the subtext of Arcade Fire's latest album cover. But alas, not everyone with a pen breaks into hives when a band accidentally sells more than 150 records. We enlisted a local fan, 25-year-old Jeff Zaleski, to give us the lowdown on last night's show. Read on for Zaleski's review. And if you see any of our critics stroking their chins at the Grog Shop this weekend, feel free to spill your Pabst on them. -- Joe P. Tone This stop of the band’s Exile In America tour was fantastic, right down to the opening acts. Kicking things off was the New Orleans-based group Mute Math. The jammy alt-rock group played a half-hour, four-song set from their new full-length debut album, Electric Fun. After songs like “Chaos”, “Typical”, and “Control,” the highlight of their performance was their final song, “Break the Same,” during which keyboardist Paul Meany performed a handstand and flip. They also played the Transformers theme song, which pretty much sums it up. It was a dynamite performance by an up-and-coming group, which later autographed merchandise near one of the section entrances. Alanis Morissette took the stage next, kicking things off with her Grammy award-winning “Uninvited.” She played Gen-X anthem “You Oughta Know,” big single “Hand In My Pocket,” and new tunes like “Virgins of Violence” and “Everything.” The Cannuck singer closed her hour-long set with her Grammy-nominated song “Ironic.” Matchbox Twenty took the stage at 9 p.m. sharp. After a brief intro movie, complete with a 60-seconds countdown, the band launched their performance with “How Far We’ve Come.” Among the highlights was lead singer Rob Thomas’s request for everyone in the audience to turn on their cell phones, I-Phones, and Blackberries, so that the crowd could serve as the entertainment (in the form of a video segment) during “These Hard Times.” The crowd went crazy for the bands hits, “The Difference,” “Downfall,” “Bent,” “If You’re Gone,” “I’ll Believe You When,” “3 A.M.,” and the song Thomas identified as “The Happiest ‘I Hate You’ Song” – “All Your Reasons.” For an encore, the radio-rock giants broke out “Unwell” and “I Can’t Let You Go,” saving their breakthrough single, “Push,” for last. In the end, pretty much everyone seemed thrilled with the show, from survivors of the ‘90s to to Baldwin-Wallace High School students ramping up for spring break. Matchbox Twenty, it turns out, is a band for all ages. As long as they're not critics. – Jeff Zaleski

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WOW!!! I went to the concert in Cleveland... and it ROCKED! I love Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas is the best song writer out there, by far! I had a perfect view of them, side stage row two, just great! "Bright Lights" was awesome. Rob does great on the piano. My other favs were "Can't let you go" and, "Hand me down". But they ended with "Push" which was a great choice. Alanis did an awesome job as well...props to her voice! She stayed on key the whole night! My daughter enjoyed it as well, she is 16 months. If you get a chance....go see them!!!

Posted by crystal on February 9, 2008 at 12:55 PM | Report this comment
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I was NOT there last night. Rob Thomas is NOT the best songwriter around. He's NOT even in the discussion of decent songwriters. He sounds like Cher when he sings, and that aint a compliment. The material is crap. Just more MTV forced crap. Matchbox Twenty, Train, Collective Soul... They're all the same band, playin the same awful song!!! This message was brought to you by the people with taste.

Posted by Paul on February 9, 2008 at 7:07 PM | Report this comment
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Come on Paul, you were being a bit harsh. Matchbox 20 is the 90's version of the Beatles. Rob Thomas and the rest of the band have done so much for music and advancing it to its current status. "I wanna push you around, well i will, well i will....." WOW that is soooo good, I've never heard anything like it. Although they're no Third Eye Blind, now THAT'S a good band. Gives me the shivers. oh wait actually....TOOL ROCKS!!!

Posted by Satyam on February 10, 2008 at 11:31 AM | Report this comment

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