Last Tuesday Matchbox 20 graced the HSBC arena with quite a performance. Before we can talk about the actual performance, however, me must discuss the nature of the audience. As I enetered the building and walked past the ticket takers I noticed something--this was the first time in years I have been to a concert and not been searched. Huh. Once inside, however, I realized why. The audience was comprised mostly of 30 and 40-something couples, some accompanied by high school aged children. College students and 20-something's were difinitely in the minority.

Well, the abundance of old people and far too young people was a small price to pay when getting the chance to see not one, but two incredible bands. Lifehouse was up first, your typical opener. Most of the crowd talked loudly over their playing, but Lifehouse seemed to realize that theirs was the plight of an opening band, "We're here to get you psyched for Everclear and Matchbox 20," said lead singer Jason Wade. They managed to draw very little attention from the audience, that is until they played their big radio hit "Hanging By A Moment." Their performance was decent, however, they were hindered by the fact that many people did not own the album or recognize any of their songs.

Next up was Everclear. Now, I must say, I was greatly disappointed when I heard that Everclear was opening for Matchbox 20 and assumed that most of the audience would be there for their opening performance. I quickly realized I was wrong as the audience remained seated for their entire one hour set, and basically bobbed their heads a little bit to the music. Everclear's performance was fantastic, a great achievement for them since the last time I saw them play a live song on MTV--which was terrible. Lead singer Art Alexakis joked with the audience about wanting to be a rock star when he was young. He decided that since he only got one hour on stage to pretend he was a rock star, he wanted to give us a chance to pretend to be rock stars too. Alexakis then proceeded to choose six people out of the audience to come up on stage. He then instructed them to dance. They played many recognizable radio songs--"I will buy you a new life," and "Father of Mine," mostly songs off their second album So Much For the Afterglow. Everclear finished their set with their first big hit song "Santa Monica" becase Alexakis told the audience he wanted to take them out of snowy Buffalo and bring them to sunny Santa Monica. All in all, an impressive performance by Everclear.

After Everclear left the stage, I was disappointed because I felt that the boys of Matchbox 20 would never live up to their exciting performance. However, I was wrong. Although Matchbox 20 has many chill, laid back songs, they have enough of a wealth of upbeat songs to make a live performance exciting. One important thing to note, however, was that the perfomance should have been called: Rob Thomas with special guests Matchbox 20. Thomas, lead singer of the band, made it very clear that he was to be the center of attention for the evening. Although this was annoying at times, it was also reasonable in that Thomas's stage presence and level of excitement was unfaltering. He was the star of the show because he wanted to be, and because he deserved it. The band played most of their songs from their first album Yourself or Someone Like You: "Real World," and "3 am." For an encore they played "Push," a cover of a 50's song that will be on an upcomming album, and finished with a song from their last album Mad Season called "Black and White People." Rob Thomas also promised the audience that the next single coming out would be "Mad Season" off the album by the same name.

Talented performers, a constant level of excitement, and a general view that the band was enjoying the concert as much as we were made Matchbox 20's performance pretty great. It also didn't hurt that they played mostly songs that we would recognize. The combination of Matchbox 20 and Everclear was brillaint and if given the opportunity, I would definitely go see either one of these bands again.