Finally saw Matthew Sweet last night, as he brought his California sunshine drenched music to a gloomy, rainy fall night in Pittsburgh. As is required of anyone of my age group, there was a time in the early nineties where Matthew Sweet represented the perfection of the intelligent pop song. Before the show I was a little apprehensive, given that in recent years he's been off producing and making pottery - aside from the Susanna Hoffs stuff - and I figured there was a decent chance that it would be a "mailing it in" situation (as it was with Son Volt last year). Instead, he brought the rock and it was a good, if short, show. Unfortunately I've become spoiled by seeing a lot of bands that have played together for ages, and also that play long shows that warm up as they go. This was a quick sixteen song set, and I won't say it was all business but it was pretty well-structured. The opener, the Bridges, were a bit too precious for me, but they were produced by Sweet on their last album. All in all, not a bad escape for a Friday night (and Mr. Smalls was no smoking for a change!) but I think I'll stick to buying the studio stuff, which I love, because for me a three hour drive isn't worth an hour long show. Still, I recommend the new CD highly. Check it out here.
Posted by binky at October 25, 2008 10:54 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Music