Matchbox Twenty

On Saturday night, I saw Matchbox Twenty perform at the HP Pavilion. We sat some thirty rows back from center stage.

The opening act was American Hi-Fi, a band I didn't recognize until they sang "Flavor of the Weak" and their latest single, "The Art of Losing".

Sugar Ray followed and played a solid set, including their most recent single, "Mr. Bartender (It's So Easy)". A tiny bar was set up in the middle of the stage, complete with bartender, for band refueling.

Mark McGrath, the lead singer, put a charge into the audience with his high-energy performance. During their last song, "Fly", he jogged a lap around the arena, plucked a young girl (named Lisa) from the stands and coaxed her to sing a line or two. Of their set, my favorite had to be "Chasin' You Around", a song from their upcoming CD.

Matchbox Twenty eventually took the stage. While the night was expectedly dedicated to their latest album, More Than You Think You Are, they didn't forget the radio-friendly singles of their two previous efforts. Every few songs, the stagehands would roll out a grand piano for Rob Thomas to perform a song like "Bright Lights". For variety, he sang a mellow rendition of "If You’re Gone" with only Kyle Cook providing support on guitar. The band did a choice cover of Tears For Fears and closed the night with "Push".

In the middle of one song, Thomas suddenly pointed at an upper section and asked, "Does anyone else see that giant pig?" The crowd turned to discover somebody dressed in a pig costume standing nonchalantly by one of the entrances. Thomas invited the surprised pig down and stalled for time by singing an improvised verse about wanting to see a pig dance across the stage. A few minutes later, a pig was dancing across the stage. It was a bizarre but memorable moment of one cool concert.