Chicagoís Matthew held their CD release party last night (6/11), treating their hometown fans to more than an hour of solid, emotional rock ëní roll. WXRTís Marty Lennartz introduced the band to the eager crowd, as Matthew took the stage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg blasting over the PA. The young quartet flawlessly managed to segue from the intro to The Chronic into their first single ìEverybody Down,î which definitely kicked things off right. Two or three semi-warm Bass Ales later, Matthew had proceeded to tear through the majority of their debut release, also titled Everybody Down, giving me a new appreciation for the band.
I was thoroughly impressed with the energy and tight delivery Matthew blasted from the stage. A shirtless Jason Sipe was a bundle of excitement, giving it everything he had, not to mention giving the abundance of beautiful women an unobstructed view of his emo-skinny physique. Halfway through the set, vocalist Brian McSweeney showed off his platinum pipes as he performed the beautiful ìOverboard,î a personal favorite, all by his lonesome. The set was balanced well with up-tempo rockers like ìStreams,î ìOpen Wide,î and ìIn Your Car,î as well as some sweet laid back songs like the aforementioned ìOverboard,î ìIn The Wonder,î and ìThis Time.î I think Q101ís mid-day cutie Nikki put it best when she likened Matthew to the illegitimate love children of Radiohead, Coldplay, and Jeff Buckley. All comparisons aside, Matthew are definitely the real thing. Catch them in action if you can.
