Matchbox Twenty
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Orlando Florida Guide
Matchbox
Twenty Concert Review
Matchbox Twenty Performing at the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, FL.
Photo by Michael
Montes - Orlando Florida Guide - 2003 -
All Rights Reserved.
Appearing on a ledge up above the rest of the band, Rob Thomas surveyed the hometown crowd at the T.D. Waterhouse Center, which he jokingly insisted upon calling the Orlando Arena. Matchbox Twenty came to please their fans, new and old, and the crowd seemed pleased indeed.
A
windfall must have befallen these Orlando guys since they “made it
big”- their stage set is a phenomenal display. Six large light boxes
hung overheard, changing color and lighting throughout the performance.
Huge video screens stood behind the drum set. Though the screen originally
showed relatively unoriginal graphics, they were later used to show appropriate
video and ask
thought-provoking questions. Whatever they showed, they were amazingly
big and bright and definitely added an interesting element to the set.
Matchbox
Twenty seemed to not notice the huge screens, but rather spent the vast
majority of their evening catering to their fans. While I am quite certain
that Rob Thomas’ tight pinstripe pants made many of the girls in
attendance happy, I am also just as certain that mentions of local spots
where the band
used to play and songs written in Winter Park helped create the “local
boys hit it big” feeling.
As
for the music, the band played all of their radio hits the crowd craved,
but no one seemed at all disappointed to hear many other songs, both new
and old. They played a new song, “Soul”, from their new album
“More Than You Think You Are,” early into the set and the sound
quality was crisp and clean.
Thomas’ voice doesn’t vary at all from the voice you might hear
tomorrow through your car stereo speakers. His vocals were pure and strong
throughout the evening, despite a rumored attack of laryngitis the evening
before.
Despite a few technical sound problems in the show, the true shining quality of the evening was musicianship. The drummer, Paul Doucette, comes out from behind his set to play the piano. Thomas also plays the piano and credits Doucette for writing “Could I Be You?” on their new album. The guitar work from Kyle Cook begins to shine when the band gets into their feeling. His guitar solos are nothing short of excellent. In fact, his standing on a piano while Thomas played reminded me of Slash in an old Guns N Roses pose- and I mean that as a compliment!
The hit songs (Real World, 3 AM, If You’re Gone, Bent) were all present in a set that was nothing short of a marathon 2 hours. The encore included a joking rendition in which Thomas sounded amazingly like Mark McGrath when they parodied Sugar Ray’s “When It’s Over.” Matchbox Twenty ended the evening with a powerful rendition of “Push”, no doubt giving fans a little bit of just about everything they came to see.
By April Keiffer - Orlando Florida Guide - All Rights Reserved.
Visit
the official Matchbox Twenty web site for additional information.
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a Matchbox Twenty Concert.
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