You’ve heard it before…perhaps even coming out of your own mouth. “I’m really here to see the opening act.” Are you now? How incredibly cool and hip (not to mention pretentious and obnoxious) of you! Oh don’t get me wrong, sometimes opening acts utterly blow the pants off of the headliner or are so stylistically different that they draw completely different audiences. But if for instance, you’re paying more than, let’s say $25 to see “the opener” then your impatience is costing you money, honey. Seriously, catch the opener when they come to a smaller venue for less money! Don’t be that asshole.
Well, a few weeks ago…I was that asshole. The other site I write for comped me a pair of tickets for the purpose of having me write a review of the opening act’s 25 minute set. I highly enjoy Mute Math so I said jumped at the chance to see them live again…for free! Unfortunately, for people keeping score of tours and tourmates right now, Mute Math is opening for Alanis Morrissette and Matchbox Twenty. So, I really was there to see the opener and thanks to my complete underestimation of the crowd size, I also ended up completely missing aforementioned opener.
At this point I’m out at the tail end of the Orange Line holding a $75 ticket going, “well…now what?” and after a phone call asking PJ, “well…now what?” I decided to go in and witness the show that would’ve been amazing when I was 14 and see if what I remember matched what I saw. (Answer: it did not.)
Alanis Morrissette. People still love her. Which I know because there were men and women screaming “We love you!” during the lulls in her set. Why men love her is beyond me. Did these men not catch on that the vast majority of Jagged Little Pill was very anti-testosterone or did they live in radio-less, MTV-less cave? One person who does not appear to love Alanis Morrissette, however, is Alanis Morrissette. With the exception of the homage to Fergie with a feather-boa’ed cover of “My Humps,” there was no indication that she was actually enjoying herself up on that stage. She marched back and forth singing her hits, most of them from the first album with a sort of plastic smile that made me go “something’s not right here.” She seemed a little too happy (and not genuinely happy) as she blasted through her catalog of angry, bitter staples. And I wanted to laugh. Instead I opted to pay for overpriced stadium food as that seemed like a better option than listening to “Ironic.” Don’t ya think? To her credit she did play one song, “Perfect” that I didn’t expect. It was kind of a poignant reminder of my early teenage years but it’s also songs like these that serve as a reminder of how much I hated my early teenage years. I spent the end of her set bugging the 9:30 Club interns.
Matchbox Twenty. There’s a line in that new song of theirs that sounds like it’d make a good Fall Out Boy track (wait, I retract that…no such thing) that says “Let’s see how far we’ve come.” How far have we come, guys? Let’s recap. Back in 1998 – yes – I’ll admit it – I was a big Matchbox Twenty fan. So, I’ve actually seen this band a couple of times and there’s more missing in their current live show than just the former rhythm guitarist. To be fair, they didn’t take the high road. Not only did they not play just the hits, I’d say well over 50% of the set was comprised of the deep cuts. But they looked like such arena rock and roll cliches that this high road kinda hit a downward hill.
Even in those previous arena tours, they never seemed to be taking themselves but so seriously but this time…whoa, that has changed. The only one actually not wearing the sort of clothing that screams “ROCK STAR” was Rob Thomas himself who kept thanking “beautiful beautiful Virginia” in a voice completely devoid of sincerity. The most laughable however was their lead guitarist…and not just because of the purple suit and scarf that screams “I’ve been watching my live Prince DVDs.” It’s laughable because I actually met Kyle Cook back in 2003 in a leaky little warehouse of a venue called Ziggy’s. He was a complete jeans and t-shirt guy who talked to me as if he’d already met me a long time ago and we got into a conversation about college radio and independent music that was surprisingly thoughtful for someone who regularly played amphitheaters. That’s not the person I saw onstage. It seemed like a very bad joke, but I had a great laugh.
I was also reminded that Thomas may be a Grammy-award winning songwriter but geez, some of those lyrics are godawful. “I’m here for the hard times. The straight to your heart times.” Really, now. But to be fair the show wasn’t all bad and I allowed myself to indulge that inner 14 year old as they played the bouncy yet Beatles-esque hidden track “So Sad So Lonely” and the lost first single, “Long Day.” I always liked those two songs and it was kinda fun to see them back to back. Then I sat back down because they moved on to something that kinda sorta blew. It kinda sorta remained on that level for the rest of the night.
Third Eye Blind and Van Halen take note…nostalgia isn’t necessarily what it’s cracked up to be. It can make for a good laugh or it could be a reminder that maybe things aren’t as good as you remember them. Figures that the best concert photo I’ve taken recently happens to be of Rob Thomas. Ah well.
Additional posts you may be interested in:
Entries (RSS)
I was at that show and I’m sorry you missed Mute Math. They were inventive and a lot of fun to watch. Not sure if I could take a two hour show of the same histrionics, but I’d be willing to give it a shot. Alanis bored me, although she was popular with crowd. Obviously everyone was there for Matchbox – except me. I was basically there to keep my girlfriend happy and, even though I thought they were pretty good when they first came out, I hadn’t really been paying attention to their music the last few years. Let’s just say this: I’m paying attention now. What I saw was a rock show put on by consumate musicians with very little bullshit, and sorry, but I kind of felt the sincerity big-time. I think Rob Thomas is a guy who loves what he does and is damn grateful to be doing it. The other guys, maybe not quite as much, but, over-dressed personas not withstanding, I think they did a damn good job of rocking the place out for two solid hours. But make no mistake, the draw (especially for my girlfriend and the other 10,000 people packing the place) was Rob Thomas and face it, the guy delivered.
I feel your pain. I agreed to shoot the Toronto show because I like Mute Math and they’re fun to shoot. Turns out that we couldn’t shoot them (promoters only put in for Alanis and Matchbox), so I had to endure Alanis (who I can handle) and Matchbox (who I’ve never nor ever will be a fan of). But hey, I got to re-live my mid-90s university days for a brief period. I guess.
Haha, I am so glad you posted this. My best friend is in love with Matchbox Twenty. Like, you have no idea how much she loves Rob Thomas. It’s kind of ridiculous. She went to their DC show with another friend of mine (no way I was shelling out the money to go see a band I kinda-sorta liked when I was in middle school). But I guarantee you she cried when they came on the stage. So everything I got when I asked how the concert was was things like “IT WAS AMAZING!!!” “I LOVE ROB THOMAS!!” and other assorted comments just like those. Your review is more how I imagine it /really/ was.
I know you didn’t particularly care for her set, but I’m not too thrilled that I had to miss her in concert yet again. I’ve managed to miss every concert since ‘jagged little pill’ was released. For some reason I’m just not meant to see her (or Annie Lennox). Hopefully her new album will do well enough where she’ll hit the road again on her own.