Arts & Entertainment

Matchbox 20 Brings Passion to Ravinia Show

Matchbox 20 brought won over its Ravinia audience last Tuesday night in Highland Park.

By Jake Zuckerman.

Matchbox Twenty is bringing the passion back to Ravinia Festival.

Tuesday night, their first of three sold shows, pop rock band Matchbox 20 brought tears to the eyes of the crowd with their heartfelt lyrics and easy listening sound.

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After opening performances by Kate Earl and an underwhelming Goo Goo Dolls, MB20 took the stage performing Parade, the first track off of their new album North.

Following Parade, the band reverted to older material with Bent. Already the band had set the stage for an evening of brutally honest lyrics such as, “Can you help me I’m bent, I’m so scared that I’ll never get put back together.”

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The band is made up of Rob Thomas on vocals and guitar, Paul Doucette on rhythm guitar and vocals, Kyle Cook on lead guitar and vocals, and Brian Yale on bass. All members made great use of the stage throughout the show, be they dancing or changing instruments with one another. All the while visually stunning stage lighting painted the scene for the songs, and a three-dimensional video cube at center stage played synchronized video to the songs.

The show continued with a crushing performance of Disease, until the night lightened up with Thomas remarking “We’ve been watching you guys getting messed up on wine all afternoon and we think that that’s lovely,” and continuing, “think of us as the house band for your good time.”

Immediately after his remarks, the band broke into a streak of megahits, playing crowd favorites She’s So Mean, How Far We’ve Come, and 3AM. Rob Thomas seemed to be holding back tears from his bright blue eyes as he sang about his “uptown getaround anything goes girl” in She’s So Mean.

While the atmosphere may have lightened, Thomas’ heartbreak hardly lifted through a passionate rendition of If You’re Gone. Immediately after, the band broke into Long Day (their first song to appear on MTV), with vibrant guitar solos from both Cook and Doucette.

After an intimate performance of the radio hit Unwell, Thomas grabbed a lucky fan’s iPhone from the front row, capturing up close pictures of all the band members, including a panoramic shot of the crowd and a selfie (a photo of oneself).

After his epic iPhone stint, the crowd calmed down for the set closer of Bright Lights, featuring Thomas starting the song alone on his piano, a rare showing of Thomas’ musical prowess for the show. The stage soon lit up to let the whole band rock the set to a close with the classic Zeppelin-esque lyric, “Baby baby baby when all your love is gone, who will save me from all I’m up against out in this world?”

To no one’s surprise, MB20 was nowhere near ready to stay offstage, coming back on for spirited performances of Back 2 Good and Push. During Push, for reasons unexplained beyond music nihilism, Doucette switched to the drums, of which he played with remarkable talent and fervor.

Fans appeared extremely content with the show, not at all hesitant to take Rob Thomas’ advice and “party on”.

“What an awesome show,” said Ottowa Illinois resident and longtime MB20 fan Terry Muffler, “ambiance is everything, and Ravinia had it the best for both bands.”

“Great show,” said Beth Cassier of Evanston, “they absolutely killed it.”

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