October 8, 2008
Click Click: Matt Nathanson @ Sixth & I
Written and photographed by Martin Locraft
When listening to Matt Nathanson's studio albums, one might assume that his live show is typical singer-songwriter - guy with a guitar, a backup musician or two, relatively mellow – but last night's crowd at the sold-out Sixth and I Historic Synagogue quickly learned that this certainly isn't the case. The San Francisco native resident, known for maintaining a Storytellers-esque vibe on stage, revealed throughout the evening that he's much more than just a talented musician and lyricist.
Rolling through a 90-minute set, Nathanson kept the crowd in high spirits by sharing anecdotes about life on the road, past relationships and his thoughts on the unique venue in which the audience sat. Topics ranged from watching "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" – and comparing Bruce Jenner's persona to that of a melted candle – to running into author Chuck Klosterman on the streets of Manhattan (and embarrassing himself in the process).
Musically, the headliner (most famous, unfortunately, for covering James' "Laid" for the American Wedding soundtrack) played a number of tracks off of last year's Some Mad Hope, as well as a variety of songs that reached deeper into his impressive catalog. In an effort to bring the evening full-circle, the charismatic Nathanson also belted out covers of Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl", A-Ha's "Take On Me" and a brilliant, unplugged and borderline-a-cappella version of The Everly Brothers' "All I Have To Do Is Dream".
While many people sat in front of their TVs to watch the second presidential debate, a different kind of town hall meeting was taking place in our nation's capital. By taking requests for a brief stretch and feeding off of the small crowd's growing energy, Nathanson proved that, if there was a race for "most entertaining solo artist," you'd be hard-pressed to find a more legitimate candidate.
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How was the Sixth and I venue acoustically for a music show? I went to see JB Smoov there during the DC Comedy Festival. Beautiful interior but acoustics were not ideal at the show I went to. JB doesn't annunciate very clearly to begin with so battling the echos didn't help.
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So were more people excited about Nathanson's musical performance or his anecdotes? Because, if I knowingly paid to hear a musician's anecdotes at his concert, then, well, tell me how to get the cheapest John Mayer tickets.
This guy has the musical depth of the Pussycat Dolls. No, but honestly, he's barely hitting for par with Graham Colton, and that's no compliment.
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The acoustics at 6th & I were OK. Not great, but certainly not horrible. There were spots on the balcony that were worse than others, but overall, I don't think many people would walk out of there thinking they got robbed.
As far as Nathanson goes, I happen to be a fan of his music, so maybe I'm biased. Sure, he may not have the musical "depth" you so desire, but he does have a very good voice and a decent supporting band.
I also think it's one thing to ramble on about who-knows-what, but with him, I think it's expected that he's going to be part musician and part comedian. It's not like he sacrificed the music for the anecdotes, either -- in a little more than an hour and a half, he played over 20 songs and mixed full-band, solo, acoustic, electric, etc. relatively well.