Hey friends, family, co-workers, lovers, fellow countrymen and countrywomen, here's my official concert review. I have typed this darned thing up before, but it got lost while in transit, so I will try to put my heart into it again. This may not be as fab as Joan's reviews....I don't have the b***s to chase the damn tour busses around town! lmfao
Anyway, my husband David and I left our home in Nebraska at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, August 25th, for the trip of approximately 400 miles to Denver for the Matchbox 20 concert. As some of you may know, we have a daughter, Puck, who begged her dad for his ticket up until the last minute. She was unable to persuade him tho. There is a time change to mountain time about 2 hours west of here, so we got into Denver at about 2:30 and checked into the motel. After freshening up and getting refreshments, etc., we headed out to the venue, Red Rocks.
Red Rocks it is a naturally occurring outdoor amphitheatre, huge rock formations and about a 6,000 foot elevation. It was raining when we arrived, but not too cold. I decided to park in the parking lot to the south of the amphitheatre, and was pleasantly surprised to drive by all 5 tour busses. I'm sure Rob was waving to me as I drove by! lmao After getting parked, we hiked up to where the entrance is and brought bags of clothes and linens. For those of you who may not know, MB20 collects for the local shelters at most of their concerts. I had been to Red Rocks just last month when I took the kids to see Hanson (hey, no laughing!) lmao and was able to sneak in a camera then. I chose to do this again, but David and I were soon separated into boy/girl lines. We got FRISKED!!! For those of you who don't know me in person, I have a fair amount of cleavage, and it must have been deep enough, cause I made it in with the camera!!!! lmfao Phew!
After entering the amphitheatre, we headed directly for the 9th row, which was printed on our tickets. We found only one empty seat, which I took and had David sit down next to me. The kids in our row then began arguing with us that it was general admission, which I believe meant they did not have ninth row seats. I showed them my ticket, and told them I didn't plan to move. Well, the man to whom I am betrothed decided it would be easier to move than to stay in our fabulous seats. A slight argument insued....ending in the look of death in David's direction and our moving to the 28th row. I believe this is immediate grounds for divorce...if I need help in court, can I have everyone's support? lol
We got settled into our 28th row seats, next to several girls who turned out to be a lot of fun. I bought a program and explained to the girls and David who each of the guys were from MB20. I couldn't believe I had to do that! At Red Rocks, the only thing separating the audience from the stage is a curtain. From our vantage point in the damn 28th row.....I don't sound bitter, do I...we could see beyond the curtain. David was looking through the binoculars and told me he saw Brian. I took the binoculars and found it wasn't Brian he saw, it was Paul. Paul was walking around backstage lovingly holding onto an infant, rocking, walking and patting the baby. This baby had extremely long dark hair, and Paul seemed to be a natural with the baby. Oh, by the way, Paul is blond again! Later on, Adam was talking with some tech people on the side of the stage when the audience started screaming at him. Adam threw kisses to the audience. Later yet, the entire group congregated behind the curtain for an interview with a woman from, I'm guessing, a television station. All 5 guys were there, and they looked great through the binoculars. At the end of the interview, Rob put his arm around the woman interviewing them and kissed her on the cheek. Damn, I knew I was in the wrong profession! lol Right on time, at 7:30, Semisonic began playing. I've only ever heard one song of theirs before, but this group ROCKS and sounds very good live! I don't know who the lead singer is, but this guy can shake his ass in many fine ways! lmao
Semisonic played for about 45 minutes, then Soul Asylum played for almost an hour. I was less impressed with them, although they sounded ok. After Soul Asylum ended, the audience was pretty hyped, not only in anticipation of MB20 but because Coors had been serving for some time. lol The girls next to us were pretty toasted by that time; one could hardly stand! I also think I was the only person there over the age of 12 not smoking some sort of substance! lmao
While 70's music played, the audience was more than happy to sing along, getting louder and louder until Matchbox finally started playing. The crowd was on its feet, never to return to the seats for the rest of the night. This was truly a 1 1/2 hour singalong! Here's a rundown of what they sang, and I'll give you a few details later: Argue, Girl Like That, Damn, Real World, Shame, Hang, Tired, Kody, 3 AM, Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares 2 U, Busted, Push, Back 2 Good, Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, The Rolling Stone's You Can't Always Get What You Want, You & I & I, and ending with Long Day. After opening with Argue, Rob told the audience he was feeling "f*ckin' loopy" from the altitude and wondered if the audience was feeling it too. Rob put on his guitar to sing Hang, which was just he and Kyle. Kyle sang the chorus beautifully. Rob introduced the song Tired as a song about "not putting up with shit" in a relationship. Rob said 3 AM was a "drinking song", and Back 2 Good was "couple's skate". lmfao After Back 2 Good, the band left the stage, this was a little over an hour after starting. The audience, of course, went crazy and after what seemed like 5 minutes, they came back on stage. Rob said they were thinking about not coming back because we were too loud. lol
The first song of the encore, Rob said, "I keep saying I'm never f*cking gonna do this song again. Then I do it. Well I'm telling you, this is the LAST TIME I'm f*cking doing this song!" He sang Time After Time with Kyle. When they did You & I & I, Rob said the song may or may not mean he is an asshole. Then, during Long Day, they went into some of David Bowie's Fame, then did some of Semisonic's Closing Time, having the audience sing along. When MB20 went back into Long Day, Rob hopped onto the shoulders of one of the security guards, who walked him around. Once again, Damn! I knew I was in the wrong profession! lol This was the best concert musically that I'd ever attended. If you haven't had a chance to see Matchbox 20 live, I HIGHLY recommend it. I'm sure I'll be taking Puck to a concert in the future or she'll never forgive me! Sorry about the length, hope it's not too boring and answered everyone's questions. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone! Loff to you all!!! French