Matchbox Twenty - Apollo - 06/05/08 by James Ellaby

You can't really get a more American MOR modern rock band than Matchbox Twenty, so it's slightly surprising how popular they are over here. Probably even they didn't expect to be finishing their tour with two nights at the Apollo, with this second night pretty much sold out. They've never really had a hit single over here, other than singer Rob Thomas' solo release Lonely No More and his vocal work on Santana's Smooth, but neither of those are the kind of tunes you'd hear at a Matchbox Twenty gig, so anyone expecting to hear them would be leaving disappointed.

With the previous night's show having been savaged in the Manchester Evening News, you might have expected the band to be a little wary of the locals, but Thomas and Co are politely effusive about their love of Manchester and 'pints' and all that stuff. The problem is that they are almost too polite, making it all seem a bit insincere and 'showbiz', and this goes for the music too, more often than not. Matchbox Twenty are hardly the most edgy or dangerous band on record and that's fine, but you'd hope for a bit more bite when they perform the songs live.

Unfortunately, there's not enough of that on display, despite the rock-posturings of drummer-turned-guitarist Paul Doucette, who seems to be loving the freedom of his new role, replacing former guitarist Matt Gaynor, with Ryan MacMillan taking up the sticks. It's an unusual switch, but it has to be said that Doucette certainly livens up the stage presence of a band who are slightly lacking in it, but his exuberance needs to transfer itself to their songs a bit more often than it did. In that respect, the new material from Exile On Mainstream is a move in the right direction, because it's those tracks that really get the band pumped up.

Things start off promisingly with uptempo recent single How Far We've Come, but some slightly lethargic run-throughs of classic hits like Real World and 3AM see the band seemingly on autopilot, no matter how enthusiastic the response from the crowd. Even if they were giving it their all, Matchbox Twenty's problem in a live setting is that so many of their songs are all at the same pace, somewhere between fast and slow, and that just doesn't make for thrilling viewing. Thomas gets worked up towards the end of Back 2 Good, and that certainly helps, but too much of the show is at walking pace, and that's even before they slow things down for the ballads.

The frustrating thing is that Matchbox are not a bad band by any stretch of the imagination. Critics will always sneer at their earnest post-grunge soft rock for its complete lack of edginess, but there's some great songs in their back catalogue, and as they get towards the end of the show hits like Unwell, Bright Lights and Push are all delivered with plenty of punch. Heck, they even managed a decent stab at being Oasis with their cover of Live Forever, complete with Thomas holding the trademark superfluous tambourine. However, that doesn't make them a great live band and didn't make this a particularly great live show.