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10/04/2022

Matt Nathanson with Donovan Woods at Revolution Hall on 09/30/22 // PHOTOS and REVIEW

By BRENT ANGELO. Matt Nathanson's current tour is celebrating the 15th Anniversary of Some Mad Hope as well as supporting his newest release, Boston Accent. 

Matt Nathanson is currently on tour, and his band including longtime collaborator Aaron Tap played Portland’s Revolution Hall on Friday, September 30 with opener Donovan Woods. The tour is celebrating the 15th anniversary of his album, Some Mad Hope along with celebrating his newest release, Boston Accent.

Matt Nathanson’s music is a blend of Folk, Pop and Rock. His songs touch on stories of love, heartbreak, and hope. His albums are from the heart, fun and are the kind of songs you find yourself singing along to. Matt has been releasing music since 1993 and has been growing and evolving as an artist ever since. As good as his recorded works are, Matt Nathanson is even better in concert.

Now that the lockdown period of the pandemic is behind us, musicians like Matt Nathanson are once again hitting the tour trail. You could quickly see how happy he was to be back playing live again. Matt has always had a special love of Portland and his fans here have always been very supportive of him. In concert, Matt is simply hilarious. His shows are not just powerful musical experiences but are also like comedy shows. He loves interacting with his fans, makes them part of the show, and has people laughing in tears at times.

One such moment off stage was centered around the song “Falling Apart”. Matt told this story about his daughter. The way he talked about her; it was easy to see how much love he has for her. Matt opened up how he had never been a fan of musicals, but his daughter got him into them. They would go on night drives for fun which he loved as she would really open up and really talk to her Dad. It was a touching moment and turned funny quick. After being blown away by the musical Hamilton that they went and saw live together, he showed his influence and got into full musical mode twisting the early part of “Falling Apart” into this comedy section before getting back to the more traditional version of the song.

At one point, a fan stood up during the reserved seating show to check Matt’s setlist. Matt quickly noticed and made note of it. People in the front row were not safe. He quickly teased her asking if she was okay with his song choices. The lady opened up saying she was a Mom, who bought front row tickets for her and her 12-year-old daughter not knowing the show was 21 and over. The daughter was heartbroken that she couldn’t go so the lady was seeing is Matt was playing her favorite song so she could at least record it for her. Being Matt, he changed the set up right then and there. Off the cuff, he tore into his “Kinks Shirt” from 2013’s Last of the Great Pretenders even giving a special mention to the daughter, Penelope on her video as she recorded saying the show was not the same without her. It was a cool thing to do as a musician and made for a memorable live moment.

The albums Some Mad Hope (2007), Modern Love (2011), Show Me Your Fangs (2015) and his current Boston Accent (2022) are shining examples of his musical abilities as a singer and songwriter. Matt released Live In Paradise: Boston in 2020, which is a great example of what you get in the live setting, but as fun as that record was, there is nothing better than the real thing.

Music has a real emotional and healing power about it. Laughter is also something we don’t do as often as we should, and truthfully, we all could use more of. When you go see Matt Nathanson live, you get a great musical experience, and you will also laugh out loud at times. His concerts are great for the soul, and he is without a doubt one of the best live and fun performers you can see in concert.

For more info on Matt Nathanson's music and tour schedule https://mattnathanson.com/

Opener Donovan Woods was great as well. For more info on him https://www.donovanwoods.net/

Matt Nathanson Revolution Hall, 09/30/22

SETLIST
(Xanadu Into)
Boston Accent
German Cars
Run
Soundtrack
Car Crash
Heartbreak World
Gone
Wedding Dress
Bulletproof Weeks
To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts (funny intro in the style of Michael Sembello’s “Maniac”)
Still
Detroit Waves (“Mr. Brightside” by the Killers)
Falling Apart (with hilarious musical theater version of the first verse)
Sooner Surrender
All We Are
Used To Be
Kinks Shirt (fan request done instead of “Giants”)
Faster (with Prince’s “KISS” and seat dancing, which was hilarious seeing the whole venue do)
Come On Get Higher (with Bee Gees “You’re the One I Want”)
Blush
Bill Murray (fitting encore song with “Moving back to Portland for the rain” lyrics that always gets a huge response live here in Portland)

Matt Nathanson - German Cars

Matt Nathanson - Boston Accent (Acoustic Version)

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