PHere's my review I promised you. I'll have two more coming up, and hopefully some pictures too! We arrived around 6:30. I got my tickets; no problem. I was freaked out by security because they said no cameras! But I got up there and they just made sure I had disposable. I could have snuck in a zoom-camera though. I also got my audio recorder in without a hitch. We got inside and I bought two posters, t-shirt, and keychain. I really wish they had color pictures that weren’t on black t-shirts. I already have cat hair on mine and it’s only the morning after!
By the time we got to our seats, we only had a few minutes until American Hi-Fi came on. It was hard to understand the words except for the songs I knew. I really liked them though. They had a lot of energy. The lead singer wanted to know how many people were pigeon lovers (not very many people clapped) and then how many people were dog lovers (everyone clapped). Random survey, but it was funny! They also invited everyone to come hang with them in section 120. lol…I didn’t feel like moving!
Then we waited for a while. The lady next to me asked if Tim McGrath was going to be there. Thinking she meant Tim McGraw, I thought this lady had really messed up on buying concert tickets. But she told me later she meant Mark McGrath. Then she asked us if we thought he was cute. I think he is ugly, but my friend used to be smitten by him. We talked about MB20. Of course she loves Rob! And all she knew about them was from BTM…loser…hehe! And she left the concert half way through!
Anywho, Sugar Ray came on. Rodney came on this funky bike. They are way high energy! But Mark has definitely matured more that from when I say them before. They played “Chasing Me” from their new album and dedicated it to the mommies. They dedicated “Every Morning” to their friends who had been married for 37 years and were celebrating their anniversary that night; they invited everyone to come party with them…lol. Mark’s mom was also there. The lead singer from American Hi-Fi came out to use the bar. Mark said he could only use it if he addressed the crowd. So he said that Mark was sexy. Mark did a little dance right then. All the girls would scream every time Mark would turn around and you could see his boxers. I’m in high school and see it all the time, so I don’t think it’s that exciting…lol. Mark said, “I can smell what you guys are doing up there,” to the people way up there. “You were the sidewalk (?) kids, huh?” Mark addressed the bartender, who was supposed to be Spanish and didn’t speak English. So Mark talked to him and Spanish, and the bartender said something about the sexy senoritas and went “Iyeeeee!” Then Mark said, “You keep getting better at this every time Shawn Smith!” They then dedicated “Fly” to all the military in Iraq. He said the song always reminds him of them. He wanted us to be so loud that CNN would report Iraq had heard us singing. Towards the end of the song, Mark ran out into the crowd. He then went up to this one girl named April and she sang along to “Fly” with him. He seemed like such a cool guy!
Then we waited some more. I got all of my cameras and my audio recorder prepared. I was so nervous something would go wrong.
The set started with “Cold.” Rob came on from the top of the stage. Then they played Real World. Rob quote, “You guys have a beautiful place here. I was walking around Phoenix. And you guys know what rocks. I was walking around Phoenix, and I was like, it’s so ****ing nice out. Everyone’s like, it’s ****ing Phoenix dude!” “We have a plan, and if everything goes right, by the end of this plan, we will have all had a good time tonight. Here’s the plan. The plan is we’re gonna lock the doors. You’re gonna forget about everything going outside this room. We’re gonna forget about school, work, bills, current events…we’re gonna listen to music, you guys are gonna sing along, you’re gonna shake your ass, whatever you do to have a good time!”
They then went into “All I Need.” At the end, instead of going into “All You Need Is Love” Kyle just sang “yeah, yeah, yeah.” Lol…It still made me hot!
Then they played “Soul.” Rob introduced it as the “New song we have for ya.” Rob talked about how it was getting all warmed-up in the arena. They then went into Disease.
Rob quote, “I would like everybody, if they could, to direct some love this way. For the newest member of the Matchbox Twenty traveling circus, on the organ, and on the keyboards, and the slide guitar, and the guitar, and the vocals and the piano. Phoenix’s own, Matt the monster Beck everybody! We’re gonna play a song that was written by a good friend of mine, on the drums, Mr. Paul Doucette. It’s a song called “Could I Be You.”
They then went into “3 A.M.” I tried to get some pictures of Adam jumping, but someone always had to move right then!
Rob quote, “Phoenix, how ya feeling right now? We’re gonna play you a song from the album Mad Season. Which is appropriately titled Mad Season.”
Then my friend and I were getting a little hot, so I started singing, “It’s getting hot in here, take off all you’re clothes. I am getting so hot, I’m gonna take my clothes off.” Then Rob starts singing, “Phoenix, it’s getting hot in here.” We started laughing and screaming! Rob says, “So Phoenix, how ya feeling now?” Then they went into “Feel.”
Rob quote, “Give a big round of applause, sitting in on the drums for this song, the world’s greatest drum tech, Mr. Tony Adams!” (*note I always scream loud for all the crew!)
Then Paul did something in the front row, I couldn’t tell what from where I was. But from what I've heard from other Phoenix goers, Paul was giving out his water bottle to a fan and accidently dumped the water on her. So Paul down at the piano and Rob says, “Look at that. Are you gonna let that little guy **** with you like that. He’s a little guy, look at him. Security!”
They went into “Hand Me Down.” I think this is the song where Rob ran off the stage for a while. Then the band left and Rob came back on. He asked the crew to bring him, “The big white acoustic with the keytone (?) and seven.” “I’m gonna play you guys a song. Tonight is a night for requests so this first request goes out from our beautiful, beautiful soundman Mr. Robert (?) to his beautiful, beautiful wife Mary Joe.” Then the sound started messing up, so Rob would start playing the song, and the sound would go away. But we got a lot of Rob strumming the guitar!
Rob quotes, “You guys can hear this right?” cussing…lol! “Do you ever have that feeling that you’re standing in front of thousands of people playing the guitar and no one can here you?” Then he started into “If You’re Gone.” Kyle wasn’t out there though. It’s cool to listen to all the people singing along! In the middle some girls yelled, “You’re so hot!” Thank god that was the only one of the night! I really liked this version without the horns. You really focus on the lyrics.
At the end, Rob said, “I’m not giving up my guitar until my band gets up here.” Then they rolled the piano back out and Rob sat down and played a little ditty. “Sometime I get on the piano, and I hear the crowd, and I sing just like Lionel Richie.” He started playing this piano solo. So good! “And then I realize, I’m not Lionel Richie at all. And I sing a Matchbox Twenty song.” They went into “Bright Lights.” When Kyle played his guitar solo, Rob sort of turned to the crowd, and was banging his head around and tapping his feet. So cute! “We got everything working now. We still got a whole lot of show left, are you with me Phoenix?” So they went into “Bent.” I loved the screen on the back. Through “Bent” and “Mad Season” they used footage from the videos but never showed the band. It was fun to watch. When Rob was singing to “Bent” he added “Yeah, all of us are Bent.” I was thinking how we were all gay, potsmokers…lol!
“Tonight is cover-time, here in Matchbox Twenty world. And since it’s Matt’s hometown, we’re gonna let him pick out the cover that he wants to do.” So they discussed it for a little while. Paul even got in on the conversation. They talked about “Changes” and “Jet.” Then Adam got on the mic, “Ladies and gentlemen of Phoenix, we are deciding the cover tune as I speak here.” Then Rob came back, “Okay guys, the band has decided on the cover we’re gonna do, see if you know it.” Adam, “What are we gonna do? I need to know.” Rob, “We’re gonna do a Tears for Fears song.” Then they started into “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Amazing, I actually knew the chorus.
“Here’s what I love. Every night I came out into a stadium, and I look out, and I see people of all ages, I see people of all different colors, from everywhere. Some of the younger generations don’t know that song, it’s called Tears for Fears. So when you’re out tomorrow buying that Sugar Ray record.”
“Ya know, we do the best thing ever. And I have to apologize, that I have a potty mouth. So if you brought you’re child to the concert, I’m really sorry, but don’t send me any ****ing letters though. This song is basically about how, as you get older, you start to realize that everybody in the world, everybody, no matter who you are or what you do, is a little bit ****ed up. When you’re a kid, and when you’re like in high school when you’re a teenager, and in college, where you’re at that age where you think it’s just you and you try to hide it, and you don’t want anyone to figure it out. So that’s why when you’re in high school try to act cool all of the time because you know you’re a little ****ed up but you don’t think anybody else is. And then you get older, and realize, everybody’s just a little ****ed up. And there’s two kinds of people, there’s the group of people who are fortunate enough to realize that as early as they can, and walk around and have a good time. And then there’s the poor bastards who are still trying to suppress it and hide it. This song goes out to all the people who know it’s okay to be a little ****ed up.” They went into “Unwell.”
“I’m just about as in love as I can be with Mr. Mark McGrath. Those guys come out every night and give their heart out. So this song goes out to Mrs. Mark McGrath, Mark’s mother.” They went into “Back 2 Good.” Then into “Downfall.” Then “You’re So Real.” Before the last chorus of this song, they stopped for like 30 seconds and then started up again. Then they went backstage before the encore.
They came back on with “So Sad, So Lonely.” Kyle did the “heys!”
Rob quote, “I wanna make a last request tonight. I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue to say, we have the greatest crew known to man. Everybody here, the security, all of our techs, the guys with the lights, and the guys who rig the stuff above us to make sure it doesn’t kill us every night. They do a wonderful, wonderful job. They spend so much time away from their families. And they’re out for the love of music. Our tour manager is here tonight with his wife Susie, so this song goes out to Susie, because he has to spend a lot of long day’s away.” They went into “Long Day” with the extra chorus from “November.” In the middle where Rob always talks he said, “We have no other mission in our lives other than to make you guys happy for a few hours. We can all celebrate being human together. I wanna thank you guys for all the love!”
“Again, I hope all of you had a good time. I want you to take this last song, and carry it home with you. I want you to stick it in your pocket, and sing it to yourself when you’re feeling low.” They went into Push. When the lights turned off, everyone thought they would come back on again, but the lights came back on. I wanted to get close to get a pic, but there were to many people up there. Jason threw a bunch out. Throughout the concert, Paul would throw out his drumsticks and Adam would give out pics. I was screaming every single word! It was such a great release. I can’t do that in my car! Thanx for reading this so long! Hopefully I can get my pictures up soon and maybe some audio!!