Remebering Concerts- Matchbox Twenty, Atlanta
Bright Lights Over Atlanta- Matchbox Twenty Live
As an avid lover of music, My roommate and I decided that it would be appropriate to go see a concert in Atlanta on a Monday night when we had class the following Tuesday morning. Now anyone else would see this as foolish and immature, but Mike and I saw it as a chance to get a glimpse of one of our favorite bands of the new breed, Matchbox Twenty.
The drive from Knoxville was actually lovely. Loud music, constant laughter, and the occasional bodily function filled the car as we made the three and a half hour drive. Once in Atlanta, we immediately made our way into the CNN center. The place was old news to me; I’ve been there several times in my life. Mike loved the place and we explored for quite a while before eating dinner and making our way into Phillips Arena.
Once inside, we took our seats in section 110, straight in front of the stage, great seats. The event was scheduled as Matchbox Twenty featuring Alanis Moorissette and Mute Math. And of course Mute Math was first up.
I had never heard of the group, but the band was actually very intriguing. Mixing the spacey sounds of the Steve Miller Band and a vocal quality of U2 with a hard modern rocking sound of Breaking Benjamin, Mute Math played 4 songs that were quite entertaining. The last song saw the lead singer doing handstands on his keyboard to the point of where he flipped completely over it. Props to Mute Math for getting us pumped for a great night.
Alanis was up next, coming on stage at around 8. Let it be said that her antics on stage would make you think she’s straight out of the asylum. She’s a freakin’ nut. Jumping in circles, pacing wildly, throwing he hair awkwardly, and rocking out. She had the crowd singing her big hits including Thank You and Hand In My Pocket. After all these big hits, she decided to, and I quote, “give a shout out to Fergie.” She adorned a pink feathered scarf and pranced around while her band members strategically mocked the men in Fergie’s music videos. It was quite amusing as she threw the pink feathered scarf away and broke into You Oughtta Know. This was followed by Ironic, which was mostly crowd sang. She even made the song more ironic by changing the line “and meeting his beautiful wife,” swapping husband for wife, which was side splitting funny to Mike and I. She closed with a song I’d never heard and one by one, she and her band walked off stage. Not bad for a crazy chick.
Nearly 45 minutes later, the headline act finally took the stage. The lights went out and the sound of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” filled the arena. Near the end of the song the curtain dropped and a backlight showed the silhouettes of the band members, “Let’s See How Far We’ve Come.” Way better live then on cd, Orange lights filled the stage and the crowd sang the song title extremely loud. Another new song followed, the hard driving “If I Fall.” Rob then explained to us that he was sorry that the screen and lighting weren’t fully functional, and seemed quite upset that the home of MB20’s first record wasn’t getting the full experience. But the lights were fine and the screen wasn’t where my focus was at. Hard hitting songs “Real World” and the Mick Jagger written “Disease” followed. “All That I Need” actually broke into “She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah)” at the end and this proved not to be the last time The Beatles would show up. “3 am” showed up relatively early in the set, which brought the house down, very awesome song. The next surprise was a song called “So Sad, So Lonely” or as many people call it, “The Difference Part 2” because it is a hidden track on there third album at the end of “The Difference” Rob Thomas danced all over the stage and the crowd was going pretty much nuts as the band played it’s first ever hit, “Long Day.” The regular set concluded with “Bright Lights,” which happens to be my favorite song the band plays. Rob banged the piano and Kyle lit up the frets on the electric guitar. The song then went into the Beatles’ once unreleased song ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” Joe Cocker and the Youngblood both have covered this song but they didn’t hold a candle next to MB20. Back into “Bright Lights” as the set concluded.
Of course the encore followed with a new song, “Can’t Let You Go,” my favorite song off the new album. And then the night concluded with one hell of a “Push.” The song was absolutely loud and uncontrollable… just like rock-n-roll should be. The song ended, the band left, and Mike and I hightailed it out of Atlanta, dodging all traffic completely. We examined the horrible quality cell phone videos we had and talked about the show the entire drive. At 3:15 am we parked at the university. With “3 am” playing in my head, I dwelled on the great experience I just had and did what anyone would do in this situation, I went to bed. Thanks MB20
Setlist
1. How Far We’ve Come
2. If I Fall
3. Real World
4. Disease
5. All That I Need-She Loves You
6. The Difference
7. I’ll Believe You When
8. Back To Good
9. 3 am
10. Bent
11. Hang
12. If You’re Gone
13. Hand Me Down
14. Unwell
15. These Hard Times
16. All Your Reasons
17. So Sad, So Lonely (The Difference Part 2)
18. Long Day
19. Downfall
20. Intro-Bright Lights-She Came Through The Bathroom Window
Encore
21. Can’t Let You Go
22. Push
Notes- No “Mad Season,” No Rob Solo stuff, but virtually no complaints
As an avid lover of music, My roommate and I decided that it would be appropriate to go see a concert in Atlanta on a Monday night when we had class the following Tuesday morning. Now anyone else would see this as foolish and immature, but Mike and I saw it as a chance to get a glimpse of one of our favorite bands of the new breed, Matchbox Twenty.
The drive from Knoxville was actually lovely. Loud music, constant laughter, and the occasional bodily function filled the car as we made the three and a half hour drive. Once in Atlanta, we immediately made our way into the CNN center. The place was old news to me; I’ve been there several times in my life. Mike loved the place and we explored for quite a while before eating dinner and making our way into Phillips Arena.
Once inside, we took our seats in section 110, straight in front of the stage, great seats. The event was scheduled as Matchbox Twenty featuring Alanis Moorissette and Mute Math. And of course Mute Math was first up.
I had never heard of the group, but the band was actually very intriguing. Mixing the spacey sounds of the Steve Miller Band and a vocal quality of U2 with a hard modern rocking sound of Breaking Benjamin, Mute Math played 4 songs that were quite entertaining. The last song saw the lead singer doing handstands on his keyboard to the point of where he flipped completely over it. Props to Mute Math for getting us pumped for a great night.
Alanis was up next, coming on stage at around 8. Let it be said that her antics on stage would make you think she’s straight out of the asylum. She’s a freakin’ nut. Jumping in circles, pacing wildly, throwing he hair awkwardly, and rocking out. She had the crowd singing her big hits including Thank You and Hand In My Pocket. After all these big hits, she decided to, and I quote, “give a shout out to Fergie.” She adorned a pink feathered scarf and pranced around while her band members strategically mocked the men in Fergie’s music videos. It was quite amusing as she threw the pink feathered scarf away and broke into You Oughtta Know. This was followed by Ironic, which was mostly crowd sang. She even made the song more ironic by changing the line “and meeting his beautiful wife,” swapping husband for wife, which was side splitting funny to Mike and I. She closed with a song I’d never heard and one by one, she and her band walked off stage. Not bad for a crazy chick.
Nearly 45 minutes later, the headline act finally took the stage. The lights went out and the sound of Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” filled the arena. Near the end of the song the curtain dropped and a backlight showed the silhouettes of the band members, “Let’s See How Far We’ve Come.” Way better live then on cd, Orange lights filled the stage and the crowd sang the song title extremely loud. Another new song followed, the hard driving “If I Fall.” Rob then explained to us that he was sorry that the screen and lighting weren’t fully functional, and seemed quite upset that the home of MB20’s first record wasn’t getting the full experience. But the lights were fine and the screen wasn’t where my focus was at. Hard hitting songs “Real World” and the Mick Jagger written “Disease” followed. “All That I Need” actually broke into “She Loves You (Yeah Yeah Yeah)” at the end and this proved not to be the last time The Beatles would show up. “3 am” showed up relatively early in the set, which brought the house down, very awesome song. The next surprise was a song called “So Sad, So Lonely” or as many people call it, “The Difference Part 2” because it is a hidden track on there third album at the end of “The Difference” Rob Thomas danced all over the stage and the crowd was going pretty much nuts as the band played it’s first ever hit, “Long Day.” The regular set concluded with “Bright Lights,” which happens to be my favorite song the band plays. Rob banged the piano and Kyle lit up the frets on the electric guitar. The song then went into the Beatles’ once unreleased song ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” Joe Cocker and the Youngblood both have covered this song but they didn’t hold a candle next to MB20. Back into “Bright Lights” as the set concluded.
Of course the encore followed with a new song, “Can’t Let You Go,” my favorite song off the new album. And then the night concluded with one hell of a “Push.” The song was absolutely loud and uncontrollable… just like rock-n-roll should be. The song ended, the band left, and Mike and I hightailed it out of Atlanta, dodging all traffic completely. We examined the horrible quality cell phone videos we had and talked about the show the entire drive. At 3:15 am we parked at the university. With “3 am” playing in my head, I dwelled on the great experience I just had and did what anyone would do in this situation, I went to bed. Thanks MB20
Setlist
1. How Far We’ve Come
2. If I Fall
3. Real World
4. Disease
5. All That I Need-She Loves You
6. The Difference
7. I’ll Believe You When
8. Back To Good
9. 3 am
10. Bent
11. Hang
12. If You’re Gone
13. Hand Me Down
14. Unwell
15. These Hard Times
16. All Your Reasons
17. So Sad, So Lonely (The Difference Part 2)
18. Long Day
19. Downfall
20. Intro-Bright Lights-She Came Through The Bathroom Window
Encore
21. Can’t Let You Go
22. Push
Notes- No “Mad Season,” No Rob Solo stuff, but virtually no complaints
Comments