Matt Nathanson's All Night Noise Tour

This Tuesday, my husband and I went to Matt Nathanson's concert at the 9:30 Club here in D.C. I know, I know, I was supposed to be sick. Well no matter how much self-pity I'm drowning in, I was NOT about to miss Matt Nathanson because I love him and this is my 3rd Matt Nathanson concert and did I mention I love him? So, I took a nap, pulled myself together and off we went. First a quick word about the venue, I really like the 9:30 Club. Apparently in D.C. that is akin to saying I really like kittens because everyone knows it's some super awesome venue, but whatever, I'm not super hip and had never been there. We had seen MN twice before at the House of Blues in Chicago which is a pretty decent venue but even though they weren't too different in size, the 9:30 definitely felt more intimate. If you are in D.C. and have an inkling to go see a concert, I recommend it for sure.

*Not from our show, but I wanted an action shot, you know?

Anyway, onto the actual concert. First of all, fun surprise, Vanessa Carlton was the opening act! I'm actually a big fan of her new record and have really been enjoying it, so I was super pumped to learn right before the show started that she was performing first! My husband was actually also excited, because he and his friends are super-weirdly obsessed with the song White Houses. I have no explanation for that. Anyway, she played some of her new songs that I love (Carousel and Fairweather Friend), a few I didn't know that I will probably download because they were lovely and her original hit, 1000 Miles. She did not play White Houses and Danny almost ugly-cried. Not really and he'll probably kill me for saying that, but he was bummed. However, I think the Vanessa Carlton surprise sighting was almost enough to brag about to his friends. They are so weird.

Next up was Matt. I call him Matt because I'm pretty sure we'd be friends if he ever met me, which is one of the reasons I love him. At all 3 of his concerts that I've attended, I've been struck by how personable he is and how he just seems like a really cool dude that I would want to hang with. He's funny and makes insightful comments about the inspiration for his songs and really responds to the energy of the crowd. I buy all of his records, but I will keep seeing him live over and over again because he is just a really good performer and brings something extra to his already great music. Also he makes awesome singing faces. See below:

 

This is soulful Matt.

This is Matt going "Oooooooooooooo" (See the song Laid.)

This is Matt belting it out.

And finally, this is Tambourine Matt. (That's not really a tambourine but it makes the same sound and you play it by doing the same shaky thing.)

Well that was fun, Thanks Google Images! Just a few additional highlights from the concert other than Matt's awesome singing faces:

• His covers. He always does a few and Tuesday's were amazeballs. First he did an impromtu version of La Bamba, which was both hilarious and intoxicating in that you couldn't stop yourself from hip-jiggling. He also did Whitesnake's Here I Go Again, which was fist-pumping tastiness and then finally he did a gorgeous acoustic cover of Prince's Little Red Corvette with his guitarist Aaron Tap. And let me just say, you hipsters over at The A.V. Club that didn't like this cover? Shut your stupid faces! It was so good and all of your jeans are too tight.

•  His mix of old and new songs. He did a great job of promoting his current record, Modern Love (go buy it now it's awesome) and playing stuff from all of his old albums, which hold a very dear place in my musical heart. When he played Pretty the World (his second song of the night), I about peed my pants with excitement. But I didn't because I'm a lady.

• His band. They are really really good and were doubly impressive because when Matt just decided to play La Bamba after someone cheered when he played the little opening riff between songs, they literally all just picked up the instruments and started joining in one by one. (Dear grammar police, sorry about that run-on sentence.) I'm sorry but that kind of musical ability blows my mind. I have been playing piano my whole life almost and I could not just sit down and start playing La Bamba no matter how badly I wanted to. So good.

In conclusion, I just want to put it out there one more time how much I love Matt Nathanson. He's talented and cool and as I said before, I'm pretty sure we'd be friends. I'm putting it out there like the Secret. Matt, let's hang out, not in a weird, stalker-y crush kind of way, but in a fun, listen to good music, drink beers and talk about pop culture kind of way. I think you'd really like my husband too, you're both cool dudes, so let's make this happen. Ok? Kthanksbye.