Matt Nathanson Gets Higher In Nashville
So after seeing Matt Nathanson open up for Lifehouse last year, Mike and I have become huge fans; so it wasn’t a surprise that when his tour came to Nashville we decided to spend our Saturday night in music city.
Since our first show, Nathanson has finally had some mainstream success with his song “Come On Get Higher.” He has been vh1’s artist of the month and is now headlining his own club and theatre tour. Seems like I remember saying this was going to happen… Anyways, we were quite excited to get to see the funniest man in the music business once again.
The drive was made from Knoxville all the way to Nashville straight to the venue, The Exit/In, A theatre complete with a bar. My wonderful aunt, Jamie, showed us around the city she now calls home and took us around downtown of music city. After flipping a coin to decide between Hooters and The Hard Rock Café, we found ourselves sitting under Led Zep memorabilia in the Hard Rock. Dinner was great and it was nice to see Jamie after several months.
We went inside the venue and found ourselves in the third row, close enough to where the performers could clearly see and hear us, which would come into play later in the night. On to the show, a couple called McClain opened up the show. They played with just a piano and guitar on a set of soulful folk tunes that included a slow, belting version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” They were pretty good, probably will never be mainstream, but you never know.
Jessie Baylin was Nathanson’s official opening act. Hailing from New Jersey originally, but based out of California, Baylin informed us she had just permanently moved to Nashville. She has a deep soulful voice, but her band was just too diverse and things didn’t seem to work for them tonight. The bass player was very jazz oriented, the drummer was metal, and the guitarist was very emo and punk, the mix has potential but was off tonight. The drums were too loud to really hear the songs and the guitar riffs were sometimes distracting. Baylin has great potential, but still needs work. If they get everything set up technically, look for her to break into the mainstream and join the likes of Joss Stone and Rihanna.
Time for the headliner…
Queen’s 80’s theme for Flash Gordon, titled of course “Flash,” filled the theatre as Nathanson’s band came onstage. Matt Nathanson himself then walked on stage and welcomed us as he launched into a strong three song opening set of “Gone,” “Car Crash,” (which I think will be the next single) and “Heartbreak World.” Nathanson started his joking right away informing us it was “hot as balls in here. Not sure who’s balls… Satan's maybe?” “Princess” was strong and did the usual break into the Rick Springfield classic “Jesse’s Girl” much to the delight of the fans that were under 500 in the theatre. Probably closer to 200 people in attendance.
“This next song was this close to being in the movie ‘Juno.’ Then it was this close to being in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ ‘Titanic…’ eh… not so much. However, this song was in a movie that did win an Oscar, I think it was best pastry f***ing…”
“Laid” from the American Pie movies was next, very loud and was a huge sing along.
Nathanson decided to have the band leave the stage and play a song alone and acoustically. “So what should I play?” People began yelling out songs and I yell up one of my favorites from early in his career, “CHURCH CLOTHES!!!!” Nathanson looks straight at me and says, “That’s a good one, I’ll do it.” So he plays my request unplugged. I’ve been to a lot of shows, but never been to one where the performer played what I asked him to, it was quite cool and an experience that I thought couldn’t be topped by anyone. More on that later.
Baylin joined Matt for a song next. Just the two of them singing “Loud” led Mike and I to conclude they are doing it. Band returns for a set of songs that included McClain’s request from earlier, “Pretty The World.” “Wedding Dress” was dedicated to Hulk Hogan and all the problems he was having in life and then the sing along of the night arrived…
Last time I saw Nathanson, he played an awesome version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” Tonight, he abandoned the Journey anthem to take on the less popular, but just as fun, “Take On Me.” The A-Ha iconic 80’s song got the whole place shouting the course. Nathanson divided the room to sing different parts and it was quite obvious that my side destroyed the other side. Next was the rocking song “Detroit Waves” which was loud and rowdy as it cut into another 80’s hit, “Kids In America.”
Nathanson then described that he was gonna do another song, act like he’s leaving, and then come back out and do two more. He said he hated surprises and just wanted to let us know. His dialogue was hilarious. And with that, “All We Are” softly closed the regular set.
“We got to the helicopter and realized we didn’t play the single.” “Come On Get Higher,” followed and was more beautiful live than on the radio. Matt then began to thank us all that we came and then it happened… he saw Mike and his moustache. Thus began a whole funny conversation between Matt Nathanson and Mike about his moustache. Topped again by Pickelsimer… You suck Mike.
“Answering Machine” rocked us out of the Exit/In and out of Nashville and all the way back to Knoxville. We got home at 4 in the morning because of the time change, but it was well worth it. I have a feeling this will not be the last time I see Matt Nathanson live…
Matt Nathanson Live in Nashville
The Exit/In
Intro- Queen’s “Flash”
1. Gone
2. Car Crash
3. Heartbreak World
4. Still
5. Bent
6. Princess/Jesse’s Girl
7. Laid
8. Falling Apart
9. Sing Me Sweet
10. Church Clothes (no band)
11. Loud (with Jesse Baylin) (no band)
12. Then I’ll Be Smiling
13. To The Beat Of Our Noisy Hearts
14. Pretty The World
15. Wedding Dress
16. Take On Me
17. Detroit Waves/Kids In America
18. All We Are
ENCORE
19. Come On Get Higher
20. Answering Machine
Just some thoughts…
Since our first show, Nathanson has finally had some mainstream success with his song “Come On Get Higher.” He has been vh1’s artist of the month and is now headlining his own club and theatre tour. Seems like I remember saying this was going to happen… Anyways, we were quite excited to get to see the funniest man in the music business once again.
The drive was made from Knoxville all the way to Nashville straight to the venue, The Exit/In, A theatre complete with a bar. My wonderful aunt, Jamie, showed us around the city she now calls home and took us around downtown of music city. After flipping a coin to decide between Hooters and The Hard Rock Café, we found ourselves sitting under Led Zep memorabilia in the Hard Rock. Dinner was great and it was nice to see Jamie after several months.
We went inside the venue and found ourselves in the third row, close enough to where the performers could clearly see and hear us, which would come into play later in the night. On to the show, a couple called McClain opened up the show. They played with just a piano and guitar on a set of soulful folk tunes that included a slow, belting version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” They were pretty good, probably will never be mainstream, but you never know.
Jessie Baylin was Nathanson’s official opening act. Hailing from New Jersey originally, but based out of California, Baylin informed us she had just permanently moved to Nashville. She has a deep soulful voice, but her band was just too diverse and things didn’t seem to work for them tonight. The bass player was very jazz oriented, the drummer was metal, and the guitarist was very emo and punk, the mix has potential but was off tonight. The drums were too loud to really hear the songs and the guitar riffs were sometimes distracting. Baylin has great potential, but still needs work. If they get everything set up technically, look for her to break into the mainstream and join the likes of Joss Stone and Rihanna.
Time for the headliner…
Queen’s 80’s theme for Flash Gordon, titled of course “Flash,” filled the theatre as Nathanson’s band came onstage. Matt Nathanson himself then walked on stage and welcomed us as he launched into a strong three song opening set of “Gone,” “Car Crash,” (which I think will be the next single) and “Heartbreak World.” Nathanson started his joking right away informing us it was “hot as balls in here. Not sure who’s balls… Satan's maybe?” “Princess” was strong and did the usual break into the Rick Springfield classic “Jesse’s Girl” much to the delight of the fans that were under 500 in the theatre. Probably closer to 200 people in attendance.
“This next song was this close to being in the movie ‘Juno.’ Then it was this close to being in ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ ‘Titanic…’ eh… not so much. However, this song was in a movie that did win an Oscar, I think it was best pastry f***ing…”
“Laid” from the American Pie movies was next, very loud and was a huge sing along.
Nathanson decided to have the band leave the stage and play a song alone and acoustically. “So what should I play?” People began yelling out songs and I yell up one of my favorites from early in his career, “CHURCH CLOTHES!!!!” Nathanson looks straight at me and says, “That’s a good one, I’ll do it.” So he plays my request unplugged. I’ve been to a lot of shows, but never been to one where the performer played what I asked him to, it was quite cool and an experience that I thought couldn’t be topped by anyone. More on that later.
Baylin joined Matt for a song next. Just the two of them singing “Loud” led Mike and I to conclude they are doing it. Band returns for a set of songs that included McClain’s request from earlier, “Pretty The World.” “Wedding Dress” was dedicated to Hulk Hogan and all the problems he was having in life and then the sing along of the night arrived…
Last time I saw Nathanson, he played an awesome version of “Don’t Stop Believin’” Tonight, he abandoned the Journey anthem to take on the less popular, but just as fun, “Take On Me.” The A-Ha iconic 80’s song got the whole place shouting the course. Nathanson divided the room to sing different parts and it was quite obvious that my side destroyed the other side. Next was the rocking song “Detroit Waves” which was loud and rowdy as it cut into another 80’s hit, “Kids In America.”
Nathanson then described that he was gonna do another song, act like he’s leaving, and then come back out and do two more. He said he hated surprises and just wanted to let us know. His dialogue was hilarious. And with that, “All We Are” softly closed the regular set.
“We got to the helicopter and realized we didn’t play the single.” “Come On Get Higher,” followed and was more beautiful live than on the radio. Matt then began to thank us all that we came and then it happened… he saw Mike and his moustache. Thus began a whole funny conversation between Matt Nathanson and Mike about his moustache. Topped again by Pickelsimer… You suck Mike.
“Answering Machine” rocked us out of the Exit/In and out of Nashville and all the way back to Knoxville. We got home at 4 in the morning because of the time change, but it was well worth it. I have a feeling this will not be the last time I see Matt Nathanson live…
Matt Nathanson Live in Nashville
The Exit/In
Intro- Queen’s “Flash”
1. Gone
2. Car Crash
3. Heartbreak World
4. Still
5. Bent
6. Princess/Jesse’s Girl
7. Laid
8. Falling Apart
9. Sing Me Sweet
10. Church Clothes (no band)
11. Loud (with Jesse Baylin) (no band)
12. Then I’ll Be Smiling
13. To The Beat Of Our Noisy Hearts
14. Pretty The World
15. Wedding Dress
16. Take On Me
17. Detroit Waves/Kids In America
18. All We Are
ENCORE
19. Come On Get Higher
20. Answering Machine
Just some thoughts…
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