By Andrea Ragonese
What a perfect evening for an outdoor concert at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow. With not a cloud in the sky, and the stars aglow, the temperature was just right. Personally, I am a fan of the lawn seats at Jiffy Lube because I can enjoy a picnic dinner under the stars while enjoying my favorite bands—there really is no bad seat at Jiffy Lube Live.
Matchbox 20 headlined this evening, but graciously shared the tour with the Goo Goo Dolls and newcomer Kate Earl. Earl came on first and played an 8-song set. Earl has an earthyrock-and-roll acoustic sound that grabs the audience from the first note. Goo Goo Dolls (GGD) and Matchbox 20 fans were not disappointed.
Goo Goo Dolls came out on stage and kicked off their set with John Rzeznik singing “Last Hot Night” and then immediately went into “Slide.” I absolutely love GGD and having Rzeznik up on stage with Robby Takac and Mike Malinin is a surreal experience. Listening to their recorded music is nothing in comparison to seeing these guys perform in concert live. GGD are amazing performers, and they did not let their fans down, most especially me! One fan even handed them a sign they had made that said “Goo Goo Dolls,” with what appeared to be Light-Bright Lights. Rzeznik kept it on stage for the duration of the performance. This 16-set performance by GGD wound down with a crowd-pleaser “Iris” and ended with “Broadway,” and afterwards, appropriately all the stage went “dark," allowing for fans to run to the restrooms or make beer runs before Matchbox 20 came on.
The set change for Matchbox 20 was phenomenal. The special effects crew brought in a trio of cubes that were suspended above the stage. Before Matchbox 20 came on stage, a short black-and-white skit was played on the large screens. Then the music began and the cubes lit up. Rob Thomas, Brian Yale, Paul Doucette and Kyle Cook came out on stage and immediately began performing “Parade” and then went into “Bent.” Thomas did a few more songs and then spoke candidly to the audience, but not before giving a shout-out to Earl and GGD.
“We are gonna be the house band for your good time tonight,” Thomas remarked before seguing into a rendition of “3 A.M.”
Then with a shout-out to all the fans on the lawn, Matchbox 20 took us back to 1996 with “Real World,”which really made me feel like I was back in college (not to date myself!), dancing at a bar with my then-boyfriend-now-husband. It is fun to reminisce occasionally and enjoy the music and let time fall away. No worries, no bills, no work. That is what Thomas wanted us to do, and that is what we did. Everyone did. As soon as we recognized the song, we all got up, started cheering and proceeded to dance and sing at the top of our lungs.
The 15-song set ended with a bang with “Bright Lights” and an extremely awe-inspiring bright-light show on the cubes. Thomas thanked us and left the stage. However, we, the fans, wanted “One more song!”
Matchbox 20, with Thomas at the helm, came out for a 3-song encore. They started with a Rolling Stones cover of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” then did “Back 2 Good” and ended with my personal favorite, “Push.” And just as humbly as they came out on stage and thanked Bristow for hosting them, Thomas, Yale, Doucette and Cook thanked Bristow again for being a fantastic host.
If you ask me, we should be thanking Matchbox 20 for putting Bristow on their list of tour stops. Because for just one night, I got to remember what it was like to be a college kid again without anywhere to be but listening to good music and being with great company.
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