Matchbox Twenty first hit the public eye with their infectious rock song Push, which dominated the charts worldwide (except in the UK, where nothing any good ever gets above #30). This was actually their second single - they're first, Long Day had not been much of a success.
The band had had a long journey getting to where they were. They had started out as a band called Tabitha's Secret, but their record company insisted that they dump their guitarist and second singer and change their name. So they did (which is selling out a bit, IMO).
Anyway, now they were famous, and sales of their album, Yourself Or Someone Like You were through the roof.
After a while of touring, they settled down to record a second album. While this was being done, Rob Thomas (lead singer) found a bit of time to record a duet with Carlos Santana, Smooth.
The band's second album, Mad Season By Matchbox Twenty recieved mixed reviews. Some of their earlier fans felt it was overproduced, with extensive use of strings and brass. That said, the album sold like hot-cakes and Matchbox Twenty went on another tour.
They are still on that tour.
Audio Samples
Review: Hammersmith Apollo 12/06/2001
OK. Arrived at the Hammersmith Apollo at around about 8:00 and went straight in... 4th row... nice. The support act, Tom McCain (not sure about his surname) was brilliant. I really don't know how to describe him. His songs were fantastically written, albeit a little depressing and he had a great voice. He was a fairly average guitarist, but his backing band more than made up for that. His drummer was amazing as was his bassist/keyboardist and he also had a cellist who was pretty cool.
Anyway, he played for around 45 minutes, but managed to fit in quite a few songs in that time. Seriously, if you get a chance to check him out... do so.
After a pretty quick set change, out came Matchbox Twenty. They were superb. I can't remember what they opened with... something upbeat. The Apollo is an all-seated venue (it used to be an Odeon cinema - hence all the seats), but the front row wasn't having any of that! The front row stood up, so the second row stood up.... so eventually everyone was standing. (I did sit down during Argue because my feet were hurting, but I got back up after that... damn, I'm getting old!)
They played lots. All their MS stuff except If You're Gone, Bed of Lies, Leave and Stop (I don't think they played "Stop") and all of their YOSLY stuff except Damn, Kody, Busted, Shame and Hang although I can't remember what order. The encore was Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time (just Rob and Kyle) followed by Dylan's All Along The Watchtower and finally Push.
Absolutely fantastic. I managed to get some photos in. I don't know how well they came out because I didn't use the flash (I guessed it would probably annoy them somewhat if I had). I'll put them up somewhere on the web when I've got them developed.
--Toby A Inkster, Esq.
Links
- MatchboxTwenty.com - official site