Matchbox Rocks Staples

The year was 1996 and I was sharing a house with Ronda and her family! I was temping at Disney with no permanent job prospects in sight. I was in the kitchen deep in my usual routine of coffee and Mark and Brian. I remember Brian going on about this song that he couldn’t get out of his head. A song called "Push". They played it and it stuck in my head all day as well. I had to hear more from this band so I went to Target and got the CD. I was excited to find that every single, solitary song was amazing! It was just what I needed to escape from the craziness and uncertainty of my life. Very few people had heard of the band and I couldn’t understand why! I remember telling everyone I could to check them out! This CD was the most incredible music I had heard in a long time! It was the only CD in my player for months! Just as I thought music was doomed to grunge hell, here comes the most melodic, well written rock in years! The CD was "Yourself Or Someone Like You". The band? Matchbox 20!

I was thinking back to that morning last Sunday while sitting in my seat at Staples waiting for MB20 to come on stage! In that crowd of thousands, I felt a little pride in knowing I was there from the beginning. Oddly enough in the 11 years I have been a fan, I had never seen the band live. I sat thre wondering if their immense talent translated into an energetic, entertaining live show. It would have to as, truthfully, my heart wasn’t into being there. I had just come off a 7 hour drive from up North and I was dead tired.

The lights go down, a countdown clock above the stage starts counting down and at 0, the band comes on to the drumbeat of "How Far We’ve Come", an amazing opening to what was 2 solid hours of music! Rob said that the doors of the arena would be locked and for all of to forget what was going on outside and focus on the music. Easy to do because I can not thing of a song I wanted them to play that they didn’t. Songs like "Hang" and "The Difference", two of my favorites, were pleasant surprises! A highlight of the show was when, in the middle of "Bright Lights", the band seamlessly went right into "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", with guitarist Kyle and Paul taking turns on vocals! Amazing! I would be lying if I said that I didn’t jump up and down like a fool when Rob dedicated "Long Day" to "all of you that have been there since the beginning". That’s me! WAHOO! :) Rob is a funny and very endearing frontman! Incredibly talented and not hard on the eyes! One of the best songwriters of the last decade! But I must admit, as great of a time I had been having, I was a little worried during the encore. My favorite song hadn’t been played even though it was their breakout hit. Would they leave it out? Of course not! "Push" was the last song of the night and I left with a huge smile on my face!

Talented, energetic, awesome! I loved this show and can’t wait until their new album!