Matchbox Twenty Exile In Australia Tour

I've never been the biggest Matchbox Twenty fan, but after seeing their concert, I'm going to go and get their other albums. The only album of theirs that I own is their greatest hits/new songs album, Exile In Mainstream. This latest concert of theirs in Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena is the Exile tour, hence they did a lot of their greatest hits. I was surprised at how many songs I was able to sing along to. I must have only listened to the album 10 times, but a lot of their hits I have heard many times on the radio I guess.

The support act for Matchbox Twenty was the extremely talented Thirsty Merc. I've been a fan of Thirsty Merc since their first album so this was a real bonus. I knew all of the Mercs songs and sang along. Thirsty Merc were really great and did a great job warming up the crowd. Usually the crowd don't really get into the support act, but they managed to get everyone singing along and clapping. They were awesome and I would go to their concert if they were the main act.

So after about 40 minutes by the Merc, the crowd was all ready for Matchbox Twenty. They came out thumping with their latest hit "How Far We've Come" and blew the crowd away immediately. Lights were flashing all over the place as people (myself included) took photos of them.

I read a review of the concert in The Age after I had been to the concert already. In that review, the reviewer said that the concert didn't have much momentum and didn't rock out. I would have to totally disagree. I was hooked to the whole show. And some songs I didn't even know. Yet I listened fully engaged. Not all concerts have to be high energy the whole time. You do need a balance of some softer songs where the crowd can get into the groove.

I thought that Rob Thomas was a really great frontman. I never thought he had the greatest voice, but he does use his voice to full effects. I liked how he worked the stage and got everyone involved. People seemed to know the lyrics to a lot of the songs. I really liked "All Your Reasons", "Push", "If You're Gone", "Bright Lights" etc etc. I could keep going on. But I think the biggest highlight of the night was when they did a cover. They said they had only rehearsed this song during their warm up. When they started playing the first few chords, the whole crowd knew what it was. They were covering INXS "Need You Tonight". The crowd sang along to the whole song and filled on the chorus when needed.

Matchbox Twenty played for nearly two hours and I loved every moment of it. There was high energy and full on lights and instruments going everywhere, to lighter moments with Rob and a piano. The concert was lots of fun and well worth the money. Thirsty Merc were a great support act and entertained as much as Matchbox Twenty.

Here is a clip I took of Matchbox Twenty singing "Need You Tonight".