{"id":474,"date":"2013-07-30T19:00:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T19:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/216.71.127.204\/wordpress\/?p=474"},"modified":"2015-10-08T17:10:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-08T17:10:07","slug":"matchbox-20-w-goo-goo-dolls-kate-earl-woodlands-pavilion-spring-tx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/30\/matchbox-20-w-goo-goo-dolls-kate-earl-woodlands-pavilion-spring-tx\/","title":{"rendered":"Matchbox 20 w\/ Goo Goo Dolls & Kate Earl – Woodlands Pavilion – Spring, TX"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Written by Michael Pittman <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jul 30, 2013 at 07:00 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Image\"It was hot..wait..it was HOT. Well, this IS summer in Houston isn\u2019t it? It was Tuesday night in the Woodlands Pavilion and the place was packed. 11,500 (out of a capacity 15,500) people filled the covered seats and the lawn areas beyond to see these two late 90\u2019s pop super-power bands relive their glory days with an agreeable mix of the tunes that drove them to the top and a few of the new.<\/p>\n

It was also ladies night.<\/p>\n

Both bands were out to promote new offerings. After a recording hiatus of 10 years Matchbox 20 released North in 2012 with Goo Goo Dolls having just released Magnetic (their 10th) in June.<\/p>\n

Kate Earl (http:\/\/thekateearl.com\/home<\/span><\/u><\/a>) really deserves credit. Imagine being the opener for a super-duo like this and having to run a short set besides. Hats off to the brave lady who actually sounded pretty good.<\/p>\n

Check out One Woman Army at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VIHon-HS0uI<\/span><\/u><\/a>. As I was putting this article together I found myself going from song to song. Just simple, honest songs. Nice stuff.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Goo Goo Dolls started at about 8:15 with \u201cLast Hot Night\u201d from the new project and played for a little over an hour. I\u2019ve always liked John Rzeznik ever since the Iris days of the late 90\u2019s but I can\u2019t say I\u2019ve followed the Dolls year after year. I recently got re-aquainted with him on a show called Live From Daryl\u2019s house. (Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame @ http:\/\/www.livefromdarylshouse.com<\/span><\/u><\/a> ). He\u2019s a veteran and still has a great voice, but this night he, as the entire band did, seem to be kinda like \u201cHey..it\u2019s hot and we\u2019re tired\u201d.<\/p>\n

New tunes “Come to Me” and “Bringing On the Light” were also mixed into the setlist.\u00a0 Many in the audience actually knew the words to the album’s first single “Rebel Beat.”<\/p>\n

The basic Dolls trio consisted of John Rzeznik on guitar, bass guitarist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malinin. Added to the touring lineup is Korel Tunador on keys, sax, guitar and vocals and Brad Fernquist on guitar, mandolin and vocals.<\/p>\n

As Rzeznik introduced Iris he said he was glad to be here after 17 years, which made me think, \u2018Hey..this is corporate rock, but this cat has staying power which is a good thing\u201d. But age has a way of catching up with all of us (unless you\u2019re Steven Tyler) and Rzeznik is no different. As cordial as he was to the audience, he had to drop the keys on several songs to make ends meet which isn\u2019t altogether a bad thing but it changes the dynamic of the harmonies and some of the musical structure.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"All in all I liked their show. Photographically speaking I like acts like this because of the lighting and stage sets they do. The music was always front and center but it was interesting visually. The on stage video was complimented by HUGE screens on either side of the stage. It\u2019s something the venue does, but nevertheless contributes to the larger than lifeness of the performers.<\/p>\n

Speaking of cool sets, Matchbox Twenty spared no expense in creating a stage that was both visually interesting and actually easy to see. The multi-tiered risers were studded with lighting. The entire stage was almost overwhelming at times when all the spots, backlights, washes and specialty lights got going.<\/p>\n

3 time Grammy nominated Rob Thomas fronted the band as always with characteristic energy and with a voice that never wavered and even seemed stronger than I would have expected. The entire show was well rehearsed and the segues carried effortlessly from scene to scene. Again, I found myself thinking about corporate rock and staying power and all that stuff, but quickly got past that and just settled back and enjoyed myself. These cats were cookin tonight and THAT counts. By the way, Rob Thomas also did a Live From Daryl\u2019s House which you\u2019ll want to check out at http:\/\/www.livefromdarylshouse.com<\/span><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Matchbox Twenty opened the show with Parade (www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CvJDnvbnmH4<\/span><\/u><\/a>) off of the new record which featured longtime member Kyle Cook on guitar. (This, by the way was the only song we were allowed to photograph..unusual, but hey..it\u2019s what they wanted, right Levi?) New tunes from “North” included “She’s So Mean,” “I Will,” “Radio,” “English Town” and “The Way” and were all greeted like old hits. The band balanced the show with favorites including “How Far We’ve Come,” “3 A.M.,” “Unwell,” “Bright Lights,” “If You’re Gone,” “Bent” and “So Sad So Lonely.”<\/p>\n

Guitarist Paul Doucette laid everybody low with a long, well crafted solo on \u201cDisease\u201d besides playing piano, percussion and doing some strong vocal work.<\/p>\n

One thing that struck me as I watched this show was the way that everyone seemed to know all the words to all the songs, old and new.\u00a0 In spite of the heat on this Tuesday night 11,500 people were dancing and singing and reliving their own glory days. Then it really struck me\u2026for most of the people tonight THIS was nostalgia from the late 90\u2019s!<\/p>\n

I REALLY need to stop having birthdays. I\u2019m giving them all away, I don’t want that parade to leave me now. A great show at the right time. Thanks again LiveNation.<\/p>\n

GGD:<\/p>\n

Last Hot Night, Naked, Slide, Here Is Gone, Rebel Beat, Black Balloon, Now I Hear, Another Second Time Around, Let Love In, Come to Me, Name, Bringing on the Light, Give a Little Bit, Better Days, Stay With You.<\/p>\n

Encore
\nIris, Broadway<\/p>\n

MB20:<\/p>\n

Parade, Bent, Disease, She\u2019s So Mean, How Far We\u2019ve Come, 3 A.M., Real World, If You\u2019re Gone, Our Song, Long Day, I Will, Unwell, Radio, English Town, Bright Lights.<\/p>\n

Encore
\nBack2Good, Push<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Michael Pittman Jul 30, 2013 at 07:00 PM It was hot..wait..it was HOT. Well, this IS summer in Houston isn\u2019t it? It was Tuesday night in the Woodlands Pavilion and the place was packed. 11,500 (out of a capacity 15,500) people filled the covered seats and the lawn areas beyond to see these… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/i><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-concert-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houstonmusicreview.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}